Business

Irish Independent owner Mediahuis in talks to buy Journal.ie

Journal Media was established in 2010 by brothers Brian and Eamonn Fallon

Brian Fallon co-founded Journal Media in 2010 with his brother Eamonn. Photograph: Alan Betson

Joe Brennan
Thu Apr 18 2024 - 17:38

Irish Independent publisher Mediahuis Ireland is in talks to acquire online news provider The Journal and sister sports publication and podcaster the42.ie, according to sources.

The value of a potential deal is said to be in the “low single-digit millions”.

“Mediahuis notes the speculation regarding a possible acquisition,” a spokeswoman for the publisher said. “As always, Mediahuis does not wish to comment on such speculation other than to say that we will continue to consider and evaluate all opportunities that arise.”

Journal Media was established in 2010 by brothers Brian and Eamonn Fallon. Efforts to secure comment from the Fallons were unsuccessful.

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The sale process is being run in-house by Journal Media, the company behind the two publications. It is understood the Business Post, controlled by Galway businessman Enda O’Coineen’s Kilcullen Kapital Partners, was an underbidder for the business.

The42.ie is subscription-based, while The Journal is open to contributions from readers. Journal Media closed down a pop culture news site, DailyEdge.ie, in 2019 and its Fora.ie business news service the following year. The latter closure was blamed on cost-cutting measures across the business during the pandemic.

Journal Media does not file segregated financial statements with the Companies Registration Office. Instead, consolidated figures for its ultimate parent company, DML Capital Unlimited, are filed.

Eamonn and Brian Fallon made an initial mark on the Irish digital landscape when they set up the Daft.ie property website in 1997, when they were 20 and 15, respectively. They merged that business, along with sister company Adverts.ie, with Norway-based Schibsted Media Group’s DoneDeal.ie in 2015.

The resulting joint venture company, Distilled Ltd, is 50 per cent owned by the Fallons, who hold their shares through DMG, and 50 per cent owned by Adevinta, a Schibsted spin-off.

The Belgium-based Mediahuis group acquired then-listed Independent News & Media (INM) in 2019 and subsequently renamed it Mediahuis Ireland.

As well as the Irish Independent, Mediahuis Ireland publishes the Sunday Independent, Sunday World, Belfast Telegraph, Sunday Life and nine regional titles.

The parent group also operates in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany.

Mediahuis Ireland confirmed last week it had reduced its employee headcount by 50 in its publishing division, with the total including a number of compulsory redundancies. The company employed close to 550 people at the start of 2024, before it announced it was seeking to shrink the size of the workforce across its publishing division in Ireland.

Joe Brennan

Joe Brennan

Joe Brennan is Markets Correspondent of The Irish Times

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