The Basler Zeitung is said to be on the verge of being sold to Tamedia
According to *Schweiz am Wochenende*, Tamedia has been in talks with Christoph Blocher regarding the purchase of the *Basler Zeitung*. In exchange, the Zurich-based media company is said to have offered the *Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich*.
The negotiations are said to have taken place in "the utmost secrecy". On one side Christoph Blocher and Rolf Bollmann, on the other Pietro Supino and Christoph Tonini.
The Switzerland at the weekend is based on "several independent and well-informed sources. According to one of these sources, an agreement was even reached in mid-February. The deal: Blocher & Co. sell Tamedia the Basler Zeitung and in return receive the Gratis-Anzeiger Tagblatt of the City of Zurich, as well as financial compensation, "probably in the millions," the newspaper surmises.
Concretely confirmed is the research of the Switzerland at the weekend on the part of the parties concerned. BaZ-VR Bollmann says it is common knowledge that various publishers are interested in the Basel Newspaper interested. However, talks in this regard have so far been inconclusive. Tamedia's Head of Communications Christoph Zimmer says it is no secret that they are considering a takeover of the BaZ The company does not want to comment on rumors, however.
Targets not achieved in Basel
Blocher did not achieve his goals in Basel, explains the Switzerland at the weekend the intention to sell. Editor-in-chief Markus Somm had been working for years on a "bourgeois turnaround" with his "right-wing fighting paper" - yet the city of Basel was still firmly in red-green hands. In addition, circulation has almost halved since 2010. Economically, however, BaZ is not in bad shape: Editor-in-chief Markus Somm repeatedly emphasizes that the Basel newspaper is one of the few profitable newspapers in Switzerland.
Blocher could soon reach almost one million households
If Blocher's free newspapers, which he bought from the Zehner Group and which reach 720,000 households, were to be joined by the Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich, he would gain access to another 127,000 households at a stroke. In total, there are about 3.7 million households in Switzerland. Then the mantle for all acquired free newspapers envisaged by Rolf Bollmann in the Schweizer Journalist would also make even more sense.
Tamedia has already expressed interest in the past in the Basel Newspaper. But in 2010, like the NZZ, which was also interested, they came away empty-handed because the Hagemann publishing family sold to the Tettamanti/Wagner investor duo. With a takeover of the BaZ Tamedia would become even more powerful in publishing terms, as the media company would then own the most important newspaper in the third major German-speaking conurbation in Switzerland, in addition to Berne and Zurich. The BaZ would then be incorporated into the national mantle and lose its editorial independence. The Switzerland on Sunday nevertheless suspects: In the end, a new political orientation would probably be more popular in the left-wing city. (hae)
