Germany: Montgomery buys next newspaper

Posted by Anna-Maria Mende on January 30, 2006 at 10:07 AM

In order to expand his newspaper group, the British invester David Montgomery, with his Mecom Group and investment firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson, bought the German newspaper Hamburger Morgenpost, reports Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Montgomery bought the Hamburg-based tabloid from its publisher Ernst Balach and editor Josef Depenbrock. The deal still needs approval of cartel office, the value of the deal was not released.

It is the second deal in the German newspaper market for the investors around Montgomery. In October they bought the Berliner Verlag, amongst others publisher of Berliner Zeitung, which caused criticism from the German journalists' association (see here and here). Michael Konken, head of the German Journalists Association DJV, also criticised the new deal. He called on the government to limit foreign ownership in German media companies to a maximum of 49%."Otherwise the German media market will become an object of speculation for foreign financial sharks who will ruin the German media system," he said.

The Hamburger Morgenpost was fonded in 1949 by the Social Democratic Party and is the oldest German tabloid. Currently its circulation is about 110,000 copies.

Sources: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German), Reuters UK, Scotsman.com, Netzeitung

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