Bonnier News acquires Mittmedia

“We look forward to be a strong force for strengthening the Swedish local journalism.”

Bonnier News (80%) together with Amedia (20%) will acquire Mittmedia, 28 local titles in central Sweden. The focus of the deal is to drive digital growth for high-quality and independent journalism.

“In terms of Bonnier News’ strategic goal to ensure long-term journalistic and business success as the leading player in in the Swedish news industry, the acquisition of Mittmedia is an important step in our development,” says Anders Eriksson, CEO Bonnier News.

The Swedish news and business dailies Dagens Nyheter, Expressen, Dagens industri, Sydsvenskan and Helsingborgs Dagblad are the core of Bonnier News. The company is in a strong growth phase and has since January included Bonnier Magazines & Brands as well as Bonnier Business to Business in the business.

“Bonnier has an over 200-year-old tradition of strong publishing and sees great opportunities to contribute to creating good local journalism in Sweden. Over the years, we have gained solid knowledge of how to create a willingness to pay for digital content. With the confidence of having a strategy that works, it’s a given for us to actively participate in the ongoing consolidation of the Swedish local news market”, says Anders Eriksson.

Amedia is Norway’s largest publisher of local media titles. Their titles have a daily audience of 1.9 million readers. Most of the newspapers have the number one positions in their local community.

“Amedia wishes to actively contribute in developing the strong local titles within Mittmedia in cooperation with Bonnier. We are happy to see that Amedias’ experiences from investing in Norwegian local dailies will be useful in order to improve local titles together with our neighbor” says Are Stokstad, CEO, Amedia.

Mittmedia will be integrated within Bonnier News. When it comes to editorial strategy, independence is key for the titles, and it will be the responsibility of the news teams to create high-quality local journalism that engages readers and drives the digital subscription business. Strategy cornerstones are to sustain the home-delivered print newspaper and increase digital subscribers.

In recent years, Bonnier News has undergone a successful integration with the regional news dailies Helsingborgs Dagblad and Sydsvenskan, including the smaller local papers Landskronaposten and Nordvästra Skånes Tidningar in Southern Sweden. Through Bonnier News strategy, the newspapers have become profitable, increasing the number of digital subscribers in the region from 4,000 to 40,000 while winning prizes for excellent journalism.

“Today we are proud to announce that we are handing over Mittmedia operations and publishing to Bonnier, to keep developing local journalism and our voice of liberal opinion.” says Åsa Malmström, chairman of Mittmedia Förvaltnings AB and Nya Stiftelsen Gefle Dagblad.

Freedom of speech and journalism is at the very core of Bonnier. We believe in quality journalism as an idea, as well as, as a business. Through this acquisition, Bonnier News and Mittmedia take the next step to continue the growth of digital subscription revenue, while creating the best possible conditions for the development of journalism in a considerable part of Sweden.

The titles within Mittmedia will retain their current political profiles. The deal will require approval from the Swedish competition authority.

About the businesses:

Mittmedia had revenues of SEK 1.8 billion in 2018 and has approximately 1,100 employees.

Bonnier News had revenues of SEK 7 billion in 2018 and has approximately 3,400 employees, Bonnier Magazines & Brands and Bonnier Business to Business included.

Amedia had revenues of SEK 3.8 billion in 2018 and has approximately 1650 employees in Norway.