MEDIA MARKET DATA - World Association of Newspapers

increase of 4.0 percent compared with the figure for 2004, and earnings per share of 1.0 euro.AFP; March 8, 2006* * * * *Many shareholders in the Dutch market research and publishing group VNU oppose itstakeover by a group of private investors and could block the deal, the Financial Timesreported. The British financial daily said as many of 50 percent of shareholders hadtold management in preliminary discussions they opposed a takeover on the terms of 28.50euros per share. The newspaper quoted Fidelity International, which owns 15 percent ofVNU, as saying it was "unlikely to support this offer." A second important shareholder,Knight Vinke Asset Management, which controls about two percent of VNU, has rejected theoffer which "substantially undervalues the company," said the Financial Times. AFP, March9, 2006The NetherlandsMECOM, the investment vehicle of the former Mirror Group chief executive DavidMontgomery, tabled a bid for a Dutch regional newspaper on Friday. The newspaper,Limburgs Dagblad, which is believed to be valued at up to €140 million (£96 million), is oneof the core titles of Telegraaf Media Groep, publisher of the leading Netherlands newspaperDe Telegraaf. The sale is being handled by ING. Montgomery is also involved in an auctionfor the Rhones-Alpes division of the French regional publisher Socpresse, owned by Dassaultmedia group. The sale could be worth up to €350 million.Socpresse and Dassault met yesterday to discuss entering exclusive talks with one party.Mr Montgomery acquired a second German newspaper last month when Mecom paid anundisclosed sum to buy Hamburger Morgenpost from its owners Hans Barlach and JosefDepenbrock. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9071-2019242,00.html; February 1,2006RussiaRussia's state-owned natural gas giant Gazprom is considering purchasing the influentialliberal newspaper Kommersant, a Moscow business daily reported. Negotiations between asubsidiary of Gazprom, which has already built up a wide-ranging media empire, "havealready begun" with Kommersant's owner, Georgian tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili, theVedomosti newspaper said, quoting sources close both to Gazprom and Patarkatsishvili.If confirmed, the deal would extend Kremlin influence over one of the last major mediaoutlets in Russia not already owned by Gazprom or the state ahead of parliamentary electionsin 2007 and a presidential election in 2008, when President Vladimir Putin is due to stepdown. Patarkatsishvili, an associate of fugitive Russian businessman and fierce Putinopponent Boris Berezovsky, is himself wanted by Russian investigators and is conductingnegotiations through an intermediary, Vedomosti said. Vedomosti said that Patarkatsishviliwanted 350 million dollars for the newspaper. Gazprom-media already owns the NTVtelevision channel, a controlling stake in Echo Moscow radio and also the nation's mostestablished daily newspaper, Izvestia. Echo Moscow and Izvestia still retain a degree ofeditorial independence, but have limited impact, while NTV's coverage of controversial issuesdiffers little from that of fully state-owned, pro-Putin national channels. Russia's oppositionmedia is otherwise reduced to a handful of small-circulation Moscow dailies and internet siteslike Gazeta.ru. AFP; April 4, 200670