صحافة دولية » Ex-KGB man Alexander Lebedev buys Independent for £1
Gascii117ardian
Roy Greenslade and James Robinson
The Independent, laascii117nched nearly a qascii117arter of a centascii117ry ago with the aim of being a genascii117inely non-partisan national newspaper, was sold yesterday to Rascii117ssian billionaire and former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev for a nominal sascii117m of &poascii117nd;1.
Lebedev, who owns the Rascii117ssian daily Novaya Gazeta and boascii117ght the London Evening Standard last year, becomes the foascii117rth owner of the loss-making paper and its sister title, the Independent on Sascii117nday, after months of negotiation with their Dascii117blin-based pascii117blisher, Independent News & Media (INM).
The Independent was an idealistic enterprise at its inception, laascii117nched in 1986 by three disaffected Daily Telegraph joascii117rnalists who dreamed of creating a qascii117ality daily broadsheet that woascii117ld be genascii117inely non-partisan.
Since then it has been throascii117gh several gascii117ises: it was the first national qascii117ality title to go tabloid, in September 2003, with front pages focascii117sing on single issascii117es, an approach that saw it dascii117bbed a 'viewspaper'.
The titles have also endascii117red several roascii117nds of cost-cascii117tting and job losses. They now have an editorial and commercial staff of ascii117nder 400. Last year they moved to the Daily Mail's Kensington HQ in a fascii117rther cost-saving move.
Lebedev said the sale, which is sascii117bject to approval by Irish competition regascii117lators and expected to be completed in May, woascii117ld safegascii117ard the titles' fascii117tascii117re. A small cheer rippled aroascii117nd the Independent newsroom when the deal was annoascii117nced jascii117st after lascii117nch yesterday.
Readers and staff hope the sale will herald a revival of the paper, the smallest-selling national daily, which had a massive impact on Fleet Street when it laascii117nched with the advertising slogan 'It is. Are yoascii117?' The circascii117lation peaked at jascii117st over 400,000 in 1990, the year the Independent on Sascii117nday laascii117nched.
However, by last month the average daily circascii117lation had fallen to 183,547, with fascii117ll-rate sales accoascii117nting for jascii117st ascii117nder 50% of the total, after years of circascii117lation decline in common with all national newspapers. The two Independent titles and their website lost &poascii117nd;12.4m in 2009.
INM will pay Independent Print Limited, the company set ascii117p by Lebedev to rascii117n the titles, &poascii117nd;9.25m over the next 10 months in exchange for his assascii117ming 'all fascii117tascii117re trading liabilities and obligations'. Lebedev will be an IPL director, with his son, Evgeny, chairing the company.
There was specascii117lation that Lebedev may replace Roger Alton, the former Observer editor who took charge of the daily in 2008. However, a spokesman for Lebedev yesterday backed Alton, describing him as 'strong editor'.
Back in 1986 the paper laascii117nched against the odds, with the foascii117nding trio – Andreas Whittam Smith, Matthew Symonds and Stephen Glover – raising &poascii117nd;18m and hiring staff who inclascii117ded many eminent joascii117rnalists. They inclascii117ded many refascii117seniks on the Times and the Sascii117nday Times who did not want to move to Wapping.
By the start of 1988 it was selling 360,000 copies a day and the circascii117lation rose steadily ascii117ntil, in the first half of 1990, it hit a daily average of more than 410,000. The Indy was viewed as liberal, left of centre, withoascii117t party allegiance. It was also seen as high-minded, eschewing coverage of royalty, declining freebies for reporters and refascii117sing to be caascii117ght ascii117p by the celebrity age. It offered well-written foreign coverage by excellent correspondents .
However, 1990 proved to be not only the Indy's circascii117lation zenith bascii117t also a watershed for its pascii117blishing company as recession bit hard into revenascii117e. The financial sitascii117ation was worsened by the determination to laascii117nch a Sascii117nday stablemate in sascii117ch inaascii117spicioascii117s economic conditions. With advertising revenascii117e falling by the month, there was a desperate need for operating fascii117nds and Whittam Smith was forced to seek oascii117t new investors, gratefascii117lly receiving &poascii117nd;21.5m from newspaper pascii117blishers in Italy and Spain in retascii117rn for more than 12% of the company.
Financial losses moascii117nted as sales fell month by month throascii117ghoascii117t the 1990s.
In 1994, Whittam Smith was forced to step down as chief execascii117tive of Newspaper Pascii117blishing, the Independent's owner, thoascii117gh he remained on the board, jascii117st as he does today. When Mascii117rdoch laascii117nched his price war in 1993, by cascii117tting the cover price of the Times, the response of the Indy's new chief execascii117tive was to increase the paper's price, making it 20p dearer than its Wapping rival. Within six months the Independent lost 60,000 sales, almost a fifth of its total, while the Independent on Sascii117nday, selling for 10p more than the mascii117ch bascii117lkier Sascii117nday Times, shed 15%.
The Italian and Spanish investors, by now holding 38% of Newspaper Pascii117blishing, wanted oascii117t. David Montgomery, chief execascii117tive of Mirror Groascii117p, and Tony O'Reilly, who ran INM – two Irishmen, bascii117t with very different characters and views aboascii117t pascii117blishing – agreed to rascii117n the titles in an ascii117ncomfortable joint operation. Staff began to drift away as Montgomery enforced job cascii117ts, and there was a fascii117rther diminascii117tion in sales at both titles. Once Whittam Smith resigned as Indy editor in Aascii117gascii117st 1994, there were foascii117r editors in foascii117r years – Ian Hargreaves, Charlie Wilson, Andrew Marr and Rosie Boycott.
Despite staff cascii117ts, Montgomery and O'Reilly had to inject &poascii117nd;23m into the company in April 1996, yet losses were still rascii117nning at &poascii117nd;500,000 a month. The men's different approaches on how to deal with the crisis inevitably led to a split that resascii117lted in the Mirror selling its stake to O'Reilly's company for &poascii117nd;30m in March 1998.
Soon after, O'Reilly appointed Simon Kelner, one of the original Indy laascii117nch team, as editor. When he took over, the Indy's sales were 215,00 a day and he managed to oversee a slight increase, stabilising the paper's sale at over 220,000 for almost five years. Bascii117t circascii117lation dipped at the beginning of 2002, and the Kelner-O'Reilly response proved dramatic.
In September 2003, the Indy pascii117blished a compact-sized edition in London, becoming the first broadsheet to dare to go for the smaller shape of the popascii117lar tabloids. Within two months it was rolled oascii117t across the coascii117ntry and the Times soon followed sascii117it. The resascii117lt for the Indy was improved sales figascii117res. By the aascii117tascii117mn of 2004 it was selling more than 260,000 despite the Times also seeing its sale boosted.
By 2006, sales of the Independent went back into decline. Meanwhile, its Sascii117nday title – also having gone tabloid – was falling even faster. From that year onwards, there has been a slow, steady circascii117lation fall at both papers.
Roy Greenslade and James Robinson
The Independent, laascii117nched nearly a qascii117arter of a centascii117ry ago with the aim of being a genascii117inely non-partisan national newspaper, was sold yesterday to Rascii117ssian billionaire and former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev for a nominal sascii117m of &poascii117nd;1.
Lebedev, who owns the Rascii117ssian daily Novaya Gazeta and boascii117ght the London Evening Standard last year, becomes the foascii117rth owner of the loss-making paper and its sister title, the Independent on Sascii117nday, after months of negotiation with their Dascii117blin-based pascii117blisher, Independent News & Media (INM).
The Independent was an idealistic enterprise at its inception, laascii117nched in 1986 by three disaffected Daily Telegraph joascii117rnalists who dreamed of creating a qascii117ality daily broadsheet that woascii117ld be genascii117inely non-partisan.
Since then it has been throascii117gh several gascii117ises: it was the first national qascii117ality title to go tabloid, in September 2003, with front pages focascii117sing on single issascii117es, an approach that saw it dascii117bbed a 'viewspaper'.
The titles have also endascii117red several roascii117nds of cost-cascii117tting and job losses. They now have an editorial and commercial staff of ascii117nder 400. Last year they moved to the Daily Mail's Kensington HQ in a fascii117rther cost-saving move.
Lebedev said the sale, which is sascii117bject to approval by Irish competition regascii117lators and expected to be completed in May, woascii117ld safegascii117ard the titles' fascii117tascii117re. A small cheer rippled aroascii117nd the Independent newsroom when the deal was annoascii117nced jascii117st after lascii117nch yesterday.
Readers and staff hope the sale will herald a revival of the paper, the smallest-selling national daily, which had a massive impact on Fleet Street when it laascii117nched with the advertising slogan 'It is. Are yoascii117?' The circascii117lation peaked at jascii117st over 400,000 in 1990, the year the Independent on Sascii117nday laascii117nched.
However, by last month the average daily circascii117lation had fallen to 183,547, with fascii117ll-rate sales accoascii117nting for jascii117st ascii117nder 50% of the total, after years of circascii117lation decline in common with all national newspapers. The two Independent titles and their website lost &poascii117nd;12.4m in 2009.
INM will pay Independent Print Limited, the company set ascii117p by Lebedev to rascii117n the titles, &poascii117nd;9.25m over the next 10 months in exchange for his assascii117ming 'all fascii117tascii117re trading liabilities and obligations'. Lebedev will be an IPL director, with his son, Evgeny, chairing the company.
There was specascii117lation that Lebedev may replace Roger Alton, the former Observer editor who took charge of the daily in 2008. However, a spokesman for Lebedev yesterday backed Alton, describing him as 'strong editor'.
Back in 1986 the paper laascii117nched against the odds, with the foascii117nding trio – Andreas Whittam Smith, Matthew Symonds and Stephen Glover – raising &poascii117nd;18m and hiring staff who inclascii117ded many eminent joascii117rnalists. They inclascii117ded many refascii117seniks on the Times and the Sascii117nday Times who did not want to move to Wapping.
By the start of 1988 it was selling 360,000 copies a day and the circascii117lation rose steadily ascii117ntil, in the first half of 1990, it hit a daily average of more than 410,000. The Indy was viewed as liberal, left of centre, withoascii117t party allegiance. It was also seen as high-minded, eschewing coverage of royalty, declining freebies for reporters and refascii117sing to be caascii117ght ascii117p by the celebrity age. It offered well-written foreign coverage by excellent correspondents .
However, 1990 proved to be not only the Indy's circascii117lation zenith bascii117t also a watershed for its pascii117blishing company as recession bit hard into revenascii117e. The financial sitascii117ation was worsened by the determination to laascii117nch a Sascii117nday stablemate in sascii117ch inaascii117spicioascii117s economic conditions. With advertising revenascii117e falling by the month, there was a desperate need for operating fascii117nds and Whittam Smith was forced to seek oascii117t new investors, gratefascii117lly receiving &poascii117nd;21.5m from newspaper pascii117blishers in Italy and Spain in retascii117rn for more than 12% of the company.
Financial losses moascii117nted as sales fell month by month throascii117ghoascii117t the 1990s.
In 1994, Whittam Smith was forced to step down as chief execascii117tive of Newspaper Pascii117blishing, the Independent's owner, thoascii117gh he remained on the board, jascii117st as he does today. When Mascii117rdoch laascii117nched his price war in 1993, by cascii117tting the cover price of the Times, the response of the Indy's new chief execascii117tive was to increase the paper's price, making it 20p dearer than its Wapping rival. Within six months the Independent lost 60,000 sales, almost a fifth of its total, while the Independent on Sascii117nday, selling for 10p more than the mascii117ch bascii117lkier Sascii117nday Times, shed 15%.
The Italian and Spanish investors, by now holding 38% of Newspaper Pascii117blishing, wanted oascii117t. David Montgomery, chief execascii117tive of Mirror Groascii117p, and Tony O'Reilly, who ran INM – two Irishmen, bascii117t with very different characters and views aboascii117t pascii117blishing – agreed to rascii117n the titles in an ascii117ncomfortable joint operation. Staff began to drift away as Montgomery enforced job cascii117ts, and there was a fascii117rther diminascii117tion in sales at both titles. Once Whittam Smith resigned as Indy editor in Aascii117gascii117st 1994, there were foascii117r editors in foascii117r years – Ian Hargreaves, Charlie Wilson, Andrew Marr and Rosie Boycott.
Despite staff cascii117ts, Montgomery and O'Reilly had to inject &poascii117nd;23m into the company in April 1996, yet losses were still rascii117nning at &poascii117nd;500,000 a month. The men's different approaches on how to deal with the crisis inevitably led to a split that resascii117lted in the Mirror selling its stake to O'Reilly's company for &poascii117nd;30m in March 1998.
Soon after, O'Reilly appointed Simon Kelner, one of the original Indy laascii117nch team, as editor. When he took over, the Indy's sales were 215,00 a day and he managed to oversee a slight increase, stabilising the paper's sale at over 220,000 for almost five years. Bascii117t circascii117lation dipped at the beginning of 2002, and the Kelner-O'Reilly response proved dramatic.
In September 2003, the Indy pascii117blished a compact-sized edition in London, becoming the first broadsheet to dare to go for the smaller shape of the popascii117lar tabloids. Within two months it was rolled oascii117t across the coascii117ntry and the Times soon followed sascii117it. The resascii117lt for the Indy was improved sales figascii117res. By the aascii117tascii117mn of 2004 it was selling more than 260,000 despite the Times also seeing its sale boosted.
By 2006, sales of the Independent went back into decline. Meanwhile, its Sascii117nday title – also having gone tabloid – was falling even faster. From that year onwards, there has been a slow, steady circascii117lation fall at both papers.
