The Russian-language business daily Vedemosti has been acquired by Ivan Eremin, owner of the Federal Press Agency, of Moscow. The last-minute acquisition followed the collapse of a previous deal over apparent concerns at potential censorship. Editorial staff are reportedly uneasy at the pro-Kremlin stance they are apparently now obliged to take.
The publisher Demyan Kudryavtsev had bought Vedomosti in 2015 from a joint venture of the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and Sanoma, of Finland, which had sold-out just ahead of new legislation prohibiting foreign firms from owning in excess of 20% of Russian media companies. Kudryavstev, who still owns the Moscow Times, was previously CEO of Kommersant.
The FT reported this week:
“Mr Eremin — whose FederalPress agency has won hundreds of advertising tenders with the government and state-run companies, including Rosneft, according to government data — did not say how much he had paid for Vedomosti or whether he had taken on its debt to Rosneft’s bank.
“The FT has approached Mr Eremin for further comment. “[The sale to Mr Ermin] could be a milestone in destroying what remains of the free media. They’ll destroy the business, including the subscriber base,” said a person involved in the talks to sell Vedomosti. “It’ll be hard to restore it, and you can’t do it from abroad, so the screws will be tightened further.” (www.ft.com)
