Independent News & Media

The company was formed as Independent Newspapers Limited in 1904 by William Martin Murphy, as the publisher of the Irish Independent.

In 1973, (Sir) Tony O'Reilly acquired 100% of the "A" shares of the company from the Murphy and Chance families, and was later forced to bid for the "B" (non-voting) shares. The company was subsequently floated on the Irish Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange. The group expanded overseas, acquiring interests in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

In 1999, the company name was changed to Independent News and Media plc.

O'Reilly was CEO until early 2009, one of his sons, formerly COO, Gavin O'Reilly, became CEO in early 2009, and two others were non-executive directors for many years. O'Reilly himself resigned as CEO on 19 April 2012 and was replaced by Vincent Crowley. O'Reilly had come under pressure in recent months from two of INM's largest shareholders, billionaire Denis O'Brien and financier Dermot Desmond.

In May 2012, Irish entrepreneur Denis O'Brien held a 29.9% stake in the company,[7] making him the largest shareholder at the time. This compared to O'Reilly's family stake of around 13% (June 2012).[8] Five per cent of the holding company was held by Clear Channel Communications, transferred in return for control of a South African outdoor advertising firm.

On 26 April 2013, INM announced it had concluded a deal with its bankers to exchange part of its debt for up to 20 per cent of equity. The deal was subject to the sale of its South African newspapers, a reduction in staff levels of 10%, a capital raising, and the restructuring of the company's pension plan.[9]

In 2019, it was reported that INM was up for sale. According to reports, suitors include Schibsted, Sanoma Media and a private equity firm.[10]

In April 2019, it was reported that INM had accepted an ownership bid of €145.6 million from Belgian media group Mediahuis.[11] The offer is subject to acceptance by shareholders at an EGM,[12] competition authority approval and government approval.

In May 2019, Mediahuis increased their stake to 29.9%.

An EGM will be held on 26 June 2019 to approve or reject the Mediahuis offer.[13]

On 10 June 2019, the CCPC, who are the Irish competition authority, approved the acquisition.[14]

On 28 June 2019, the acquisition received approval of shareholders. The acquisition now remains subject to the approval of the Minister for Communications and the sanction of the High Court, as it is being executed by way of a scheme of arrangement.[15][16]

On 16 July 2019, it was announced that the court hearing would be on 30 July 2019.[17]

On 29 July 2019, Richard Bruton, the Minister for Communications, “unconditionally” cleared the proposed deal.[18]

On 30 July 2019, court approval was received for the deal. Trading of INM shares on Euronext Dublin (formally the Irish Stock Exchange) and the London Stock Exchange is suspended from with the cancellation of shares taking effect on 1 August. INM will re-register as a private limited company. The process to buy up all of INM's outstanding shares from around 7,000 shareholders is expected to take roughly until the end of August 2019.[19][20]

In October 2019, it was reported that INM were closing their CityWest print plant.[21]

In November 2019, it was announced that Mediahuis plans to transfer €60m to Belgian parent from INM.[22]

• The Herald[23]
• Irish Independent[23]
• Sunday Independent[23]
• Sunday World[23]
• Irish Daily Star (50% ownership, the other 50% is owned by Reach PLC, parent of the Daily Star in the UK)[23]

• The Kerryman[23]
• Drogheda Independent[23]
• The Sligo Champion[23]
• Wicklow People[23]
• Wexford People[23]
• Belfast Telegraph[23]
• Sunday Life[23]
• Fingal Independent[23]
• The Argus[23]
• New Ross Standard[23]
• The Corkman[23]

• Ireland's Own[23]

• Independent.ie[23]
• CarsIreland.ie[23]
• NIcarfinder[23]
• ClickAndGo[23]
• PropertyNews.com[23]
• NIjobfinder[23]
• RecruitNI[23]
• Farm Ireland[23]
• Buzz.ie (50% owned) [24]

• The company's printing facility is at Citywest.

• NewsSpread[23]
• Reach Home Delivery[23]

In 1993, the group bought into the now defunct Sunday Tribune, in which it owned 98% of the issued share capital and over which it has considerable influence. As INM technically only held 29.9% of voting shares and so lacked management control, it did not consolidate the results of the Tribune, which is loss-making, with accumulated losses of around €45 million since acquisition.[25] The Tribune went in to administration and closed in February 2011.

The group launched Independent Colleges, which has its base on Dublin's Dawson Street, in 2007, and sold its education division in 2014.

The Independent (of London) was bought for around €100 million in 1997 and up until March 2010 the title had made cumulative losses of least €150 million. The Independent and the Independent on Sunday newspapers were sold to a company controlled by Alexander Lebedev in March 2010.[26]

During 2007, INM opened a new full-colour Goss printing press facility in Newry, Co. Down. The press the Goss Flexible Printing System known as the FPS was the first FPS sold by Goss Preston.[27]

• Ireland's Saturday Night (closed in 2008)

Until 2013, the group was the second biggest newspaper publisher in South Africa, owning 14 newspapers including The Star and Pretoria News in Gauteng, the Daily Voice, Cape Times, Cape Argus and Weekend Argus in Cape Town, The Mercury, Post, Isolezwe, Daily News, Sunday Tribune and Independent on Saturday in Durban, the Diamond Fields Advertiser in Kimberley, as well as the national Sunday Independent and 13 community newspapers in Cape Town. The group's titles account for 48% of the total advertising spend in paid newspapers,[28] 22% of all newspapers sold in the country, and 63% of the English language market.

In mid-2012, speculation began that INM would sell their South African operation.[29] This was later confirmed. INM had initially hoped for 250 million EUR for INM SA, however bids came in at around 150 million EUR.[30] Cape Town businessman Iqbal Surve's Sekunjalo Investments consortium were the front-runners to purchase INM SA.[31] Inititally Sekunjalo was set to take a 75% stake in the consortium, but this was changed to 55%, with the remainder going to two government entities. The first of these is the investment arm of the SA government, and the second, an investment arm of the Chinese government.[32] Commenting on the deal University of the Witwatersrand journalism professor Anton Harber said that "the ANC is working with their Chinese allies—ruling party to ruling party, in the way the Chinese government so often works—to increase their influence in our local media and counter what they view as a hostile media sector."[33]

Bloomberg reported that Denis O'Brien met Jacob Zuma, president of South Africa, during a private meeting at the Hotel on 24 January 2013. He also met the broker negotiating the sale of INM SA.[34]

The company owned a stake in APN News & Media Limited, a large newspaper publisher in Australia and New Zealand, which owns The New Zealand Herald and other newspapers, and is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

On 12 February 2007, INM announced that the board of APN had recommended an all-cash revised offer of A$6.10 per share for the entire issued share capital of APN.[35] The subsequent bid to take APN News & Media Ltd private in May 2007 was unsuccessful.

INL owned approximately 30% of APN at mid-2012 and sold it by March 2015.

INM previously entered into the Indian market, purchasing 20% of Dainik Jagran, the publishing company behind India's best-selling paper. This market has been identified by INM as being a key element of its move into non-English speaking media markets with huge growth opportunities and potential for advancement. Since the initial investment INM deepened its involvement by buying 20% of the radio business of Dainik Jagran. The intention is to establish eight radio stations in the so-called "Hindi Belt".

In August 2010, INM sold its entire stake in Dainik Jagran.[36] INM no longer have any Indian interests.

INM also held stakes in the Unison ISP and the iTouch electronic payments and premium rate telecoms operator, the controlling stake in the latter later being sold to a Japanese firm.

The company formerly held a 50% stake in Chorus Communications, the second largest cable television and MMDS operator in Ireland, having acquired this with a merger between Cable Management Ireland, and their own Irish Multichannel. However this was sold in 2004.