Acquisitions
'The financial crisis is forcing media to implement unusual cost cutting measures,' the female leader for the country's journalist union has admitted to The Norwegian Office of Enlightenment after the blog's investigations revealed all yesterday's Norwegian newspaper stories to be April Fool&
Finance
Pleased to come out of a meeting and find, as I predicted would happen yesterday, that Mecom has secured another covenant test date extension from its banks - this one until 30 April. Not that you had to be a wizard to see that coming, but following the company closely
Freesheets
Edda Media-owned Sarpsborgsavisa will cease publication 28 May, it was decided yesterday. The freesheet is the third newspaper in the county of Östfold to see its owners pull the plug within less than seven days. Only last Tuesday, Norwegian newspaper group A-pressen announced it would close local newspaper Moss Dagblad
Media
Kjell Aamot, Schibsted's CEO, will step down by 1 March 2010 it was announced when Oslo Stock Exchange opened today. An online enthusiast, Aamot has come under fire recently for predicting the demise of print newspapers, but has since insisted he was only talking about the business model
Media
Two of Norway's local newspapers will close next week, it was announced today. A few hours ago Norwegian media group A-pressen, who among other media assets owns 50 of the countries regional- and local newspapers, announced Moss Dagblad, a local newspaper, and Halden Dagblad, a local freesheet, will
Economy
These are desperate media times. Late Friday night, news broke Mecom was planning a rights issue within the next month. The story surfaced just as the ailing pan-European company was preparing for a crucial week, with its EGM taking place today and its covenant test extenstion expiring early next week.
BusinessModel
Yes, freesheets are challenged, but that's down to the collapse in the print classifieds market, and Mecom is hardly the best example of a company brought down by its frees. In an article yesterday, The Financial Times (FT) suggested the freesheet model could be the first victim of
Acquisitions
No Polish partnership between Mecom and Axel Springer. After months of speculations the German newspaper giant was vying for both Rzeczpospolita and Mecom Poland, it emerged yesterday that Axel Springer had not submitted a bid for the Polish state's 49 pc stake in Rzeczpospolita - where Mecom is
Finance
I have a feeling Mecom-boss David Montgomery will have a very interesting visit to Norway next week. After selling off its operations in North-Western Norway, the pan-European newspaper group today announced it had won a further reprieve from its lenders and now has until the end of March to get
Acquisitions
"This is yet another sad chapter in Mecom's short and tragic history as a media owner in Norway and other countries," Kjell Johnsen, the former CEO of Mecom's Norwegian division, Edda Media, told Dagens Naeringsliv. Johnsen breaks his silence His comments in the wake
Blogging
Obviously, this is not a complete list. Usually I just save my favourite links to delicious, but, since this blog revolves around the many facets of how the communcations industry is changing, here's a few really interesting links to chew on: Eirikso: "Free, but not that free…
Current Affairs
So, Icleand has a new government, this one headed by Johanna Sigurdardottir. Who's controlling who? Interestingly, what struck me the most when I was in Rekjavik in mid-December was the lack of agreement and uncertainty I encountered over who were actually running the place: you could call it