Is Ringier pulling out of Ukraine?

 
According to a report by the German news agency Kress, Ringier plans to sell its tabloid *Blik* and withdraw from Ukraine. Apparently, the launch of the paper was too costly and may also have been handled in an unprofessional manner. As expected, press spokesman Marco Castellaneta stated that his company generally does not comment on «market rumors.» According to Kress, negotiations regarding a sale are underway with, among others, the publishers of the Ukrainian market leader Segodnya (Today). Blik employs approximately 125 people. The paper has been published in Kyiv since May 2006 (see:
) and reached a print run of 93,000 copies in January 2008. In January, the publisher also launched a major marketing campaign and had the magazine distributed for free in Kyiv to increase its reach to the planned circulation of 150,000 copies and a readership of 500,000 people. Apparently, it didn’t do much good. An insider told Kress that Ringier would have to spend around ten million euros to break even. But the publisher is not willing to do so. Furthermore, breaking into the Ukrainian market is apparently difficult due to the disparate distribution system, and the print advertising market is small to begin with. But Kress speculates that poor decisions—such as half-hearted and poorly executed marketing campaigns—likely also contributed to Blik’s failure.