The sale of the Irish Examiner to The Irish Times will be good for jobs, the newspaper brands and for the industry in general, both parties to the deal have said following the final regulatory clearance required for the acquisition to go ahead.
The comments came after staff briefings at both titles yesterday during which it was confirmed that the acquisition by The Irish Times DAC of all Landmark Media assets has concluded, reports the Irish Examiner.
The deal was agreed in principle last December, approved by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission in April, and later cleared byDenis Naughten, Minister for Communications.
Landmark CEO Exits Business
It was also announced yesterday that Tom Murphy, Landmark Media chief executive is to exit the business.
To the Irish Examiner staff Murphy yesterday described the “last strand of the Crosbie family” involved in the business as “fantastic supporters of the ethos, concepts and standards of quality journalism”.
“They have been a beacon to the industry, leading and setting the standards for others to follow,” he said.
He also said while The Irish Times was the preferred purchaser of the company’s assets, it was not the group’s “only suitor”.
“The reason we selected them originally was because the positioning of the core Irish Times newspaper was consistent with and complementary to the positioning of the Irish Examiner and, secondly because our experiences of dealing with them over the years showed them to be good people to partner with.”
The Irish Times now owns the Irish Examiner and the Evening Echo, all of the group’s regional titles including the weekly Waterford News & Star, Roscommon Herald, Western People, The Nationalist, Kildare Nationalist, Laois Nationalist, Naas and Newbridge Nationalist, its websites breakingnews.ie, irishexaminer.com, recruitireland.com, and 75% of benchwarmers.ie, and its radio station interests which include 75% of WLR and BEAT FM, and 17.6% of RedFM.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
