Just last week
Tamedia was mentioned in an analyst report by Cash as a potential buyer for Basler Zeitung Medien. Christoph Zimmer, Head of Corporate Communications at Tamedia, declined to comment on whether negotiations had been held with Basler Zeitung Medien when asked by Werbewoche. At the moment, Tamedia is focusing on the project with Edipresse. The companies are to be merged over the next three years. This will demand a lot from Tamedia - not only financially.
The sale of BZM would change little for Tamedia. Until now, there had been a partnership with BZM from which both sides had benefited. The cooperation concerns, among other things, the Newsnetz or the advertising sales "Metropool". A change of ownership would mean that both sides could reassess this partnership. However, Tamedia does not necessarily have to take a stake in every media company, but can also continue to imagine partnerships with independent media companies, Zimmer continued.
Peter WannerThe publisher of Mittelland Zeitung told Werbewoche that he was curious to see how the new situation would affect the Swiss press landscape. He had already held talks with Matthias Hagemann about a possible collaboration, but he was also prepared to hold talks with the new owners in this regard.
At the
NZZ did not wish to comment further on the sale of the newspaper. The question of whether negotiations had taken place with BZM remained unanswered when asked by Werbewoche. However, there is also interest in possible cooperation with the new owners.
Mostly positive feedback
When asked by the news agency SDA, Hanspeter Lebrument welcomed the fact that an independent publisher is still active in Basel. As neither of the two large groups, Tamedia or the NZZ Group, had bought the Basler Zeitung (BaZ), the balance of power in the Swiss media would not change. However, the owner of Südostschweiz Mediengruppe points out that the financier Tito Tettamanti has usually sold his media holdings again quickly - "but not yet to a Zurich-based group". However, it has also been shown in the past that Tettamanti allows the newspaper publishers to work independently.
Media scientist Stephan Russ-Mohl also described the involvement of a private investor in Basler Zeitung as pleasing. In view of the pressure on Swiss publishers, he considers the decision of the two buyers, Tettamanti and Martin Wagner, to be courageous. Thanks to the sale to independents, the diversity of newspapers in Switzerland will continue to exist for the time being. "It is positive that the large groups are not simply continuing to expand," said the Professor of Journalism and Media Management at the University of Italian-speaking Switzerland.
"An important daily newspaper remains independent", says Zurich publicist and journalist Karl Lüönd. This will help to maintain the diversity of the press in Switzerland, he told the SDA news agency on Monday. The takeover puts the publishing house on a solid financial footing. Lüönd suspects that Wagner is backed by a strong financial backer. Specifically, he mentions the Basel media entrepreneur Bernhard Burgener, who is now a member of the Board of Directors of Basler Zeitung Medien. Burgener is the head of Constantin Medien. Like Lebrument, however, Lüönd also suspects that Tettamanti will soon sell on. And when the time comes, the large publishing houses will once again come into focus, the publicist continues.
Comedia has concerns
The media union Comedia is concerned. According to the union, the publishing house of Basler Zeitung, a media company with a long tradition, is falling into the hands of financial investor Tito Tettamanti. It is irritating that media companies can become the subject of speculative actions during a crisis. Tito Tettamanti is no guarantor of democratic publicity, it continues. Comedia is calling on the new owners not to squeeze the BZM workforce any further and to allow the editorial teams to work with political independence.
