MEDIA MARKET DATA - World Association of Newspapers

to divulge further details. http://www.agencyfaqs.com/news/stories/2006/02/14/14183.html;February 14, 2006New ZealandAustralian-based media company John Fairfax Holdings said it has agreed to buy NewZealand Internet auction site Trade Me for 700 million dollars (466 million US$). Fairfax,which owns major newspaper and magazine titles in both Australia and New Zealand, said thecash purchase of New Zealand's most visited website was part of the company's increasingfocus on the Internet. "The acquisition of Trade Me reshapes Fairfax's earnings and businessmix as part of our more aggressive push into the Internet in all the markets in which weoperate," Fairfax chief executive David Kirk said. "As a result of our successful onlineinvestments, we are now a significantly more diversified media company," he said. Thepurchase price is 26.5 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation(ebitda) for the current financial year and about 15 to 16 times forecast ebitda for the 2007financial year. Trade Me was founded by Sam Morgan in 1999 and has become a hugesuccess in New Zealand, hosting auctions for general goods, motor vehicles and properties.The site has 1.2 million members and 35 million auctions are expected to be held this year,Fairfax said. Morgan will continue to run the business for one to two years and Fairfax has noplans to change the way it runs, Kirk said. "There's not a lot we can do to improve the way thebusiness has been run and developed," he said. The purchase, to be funded through a mixtureof debt and equity, would "very materially" increase Fairfax's Internet earnings, he said. AFP;March 6, 2006RussiaNorwegian Schibsted has acquired 66.7 percent in Regional Independent Newspapers Co., theowner of St. Petersburg Moy Rayon (My District) newspaper network. The company’sintention to funnel $7.7 million to the project and to launch the newspaper in Moscow signalsthe investment potential of the printed media market in Russia has not expired. Schibsted paid$3.3 million for 66.7 percent in Regional Independent Newspapers, said Moy RayonMarketing Director Alexandra Skachkova. Around $4.4 million will be invested in promotingMoy Rayon before late this year. Schibsted’s interest in Russia roots in the lucrativedevelopment of the country’s media market, where the printed advertising gained 16 percentpast year, having climbed from $1.2 billion to $1.39 billion, according to Association ofRussia’s Communication Agencies. Backed up by Norwegian funds, Skachkova said, MoyRayon is expected to emerge in Moscow before late this summer and to expand in St.Petersburg by covering the region and creating an Internet-portal. Moy Rayon Weekly hasbeen released since October 15, 2002; its audience is 605,600 people; weekly circulation –360,000 copies. It is distributed in 13 regions of St. Petersburg. And it is not just promotion,Moy Rayon is rather a community newspaper with the editorial articles covering 60 percent ofit. http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=661217; March 28, 2006SloveniaGerman group WAZ has signed a joint venture agreement with the leading Slovenianpublisher DZS. They will run a 50/50 operation. WAZ has brought into the venture its 51.6%stake in daily newspaper Dvenik in which Austrian Styria owns 26%. Total investment byWAZ in this deal is estimated at € 15 million. ANIMA Newsletter, May 22, 200668