Russion billionaire to buy Evening Standard
Posted by Leah McBride Mensching on January 16, 2009 at 10:07 PM
Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev is in "advanced talks" to buy a 76 percent stake in the Evening Standard, AFP reported.
The Evening Standard is London's only paid evening paper, and is owned by Associated Newspapers, which also publishes the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. Should the deal go through, the group would continue to own the remaining 24 percent.
The Evening Standard is London's only paid evening paper, and is owned by Associated Newspapers, which also publishes the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. Should the deal go through, the group would continue to own the remaining 24 percent.
Lebedev, a former KGB agent, told MediaGuardian that when he was a spy at the Soviet embassy in London in the late 1980s, he read the Evening Standard and other newspapers, calling the Standard "a very good newspaper" with "brilliant journalists," according to AFP.
The Evening Standard is thought to be losing £10 million each year, and a sale to Lebedev would help the Associated title, according to MediaGuardian. Associated's operating profits fell last year by 13 percent, or £10 million, to £73 million.
"It is obviously making losses at this stage, with circulation and classified advertising in decline, so the assumption is they are doing it to eliminate the losses as opposed to making a bundle by selling it," an analyst told MediaGuardian.
The Evening Standard is thought to be losing £10 million each year, and a sale to Lebedev would help the Associated title, according to MediaGuardian. Associated's operating profits fell last year by 13 percent, or £10 million, to £73 million.
"It is obviously making losses at this stage, with circulation and classified advertising in decline, so the assumption is they are doing it to eliminate the losses as opposed to making a bundle by selling it," an analyst told MediaGuardian.
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