Gratisanzeiger Lausanne Cités and GHI do not go to Christoph Blocher
The two largest free newspapers in French-speaking Switzerland, Lausanne Cités and GHI, will remain in the hands of their founder and publisher Jean-Marie Fleury after all. Fleury announced on Wednesday that he had bought back Tamedia's stake in the two titles for «sentimental reasons».
In mid-April, the Zurich media company Tamedia had acquired from Christoph Blocher the Basel Newspaper and in return, the latter had received, among other things, these two free sheets in French-speaking Switzerland.
But the publications Lausanne Cités and GHI cannot take over Blocher with his Zeitungshaus AG after all. Fleury prevents Blocher from taking over and buys Tamedia's previous shares of 50 percent each.
Fleury is thus exercising his pre-sale rights, as he announced in a communiqué. He will buy back all Tamedia shares for "sentimental reasons". It is a family business that he himself founded almost fifty years ago.
According to Fleury, the purchase will enable him to guarantee the future of the two titles independently of the publisher. He did not provide any information on the financial details of the purchase.
Tamedia confirmed the facts. The sale of the Basel Newspaper to the Zurich-based publisher, however, this does not change anything. "This exercise of the right of first refusal has no influence on the remaining elements of the agreement," Tamedia spokesman Christoph Zimmer said when asked. (SDA)
