On Wednesday, March 21st 2018, Estonian Competition Authority gave its approval to a transaction, which enables Ekspress Grupp and Suits Meedia – the owners of Estonia’s largest magazine publisher AS Ajakirjade Kirjastus – reorganize the activity of the publishing company.
According to the agreement made on February 20th this year, Ekspress Meedia, the daughter company of Ekspress Grupp, will take over the publishing of monthly magazines belonging to the company (Eesti Naine, Anne ja Stiil, Pere ja Kodu, Oma Maitse, Tervis Pluss and Jana) and the weekly magazine Kroonika. AS Ajakirjade Kirjastus together with the rest of the publications will be merged with AS SL Õhtuleht and after merging, the companies will continue under the name AS Õhtuleht Kirjastus.
According to Mari-Liis Rüütsalu, the head of the board of Ekspress Grupp, the merging activities will begin immediately after the approval of the Competition Authority and will be finished by October at the latest. „The main goal of the reorganization is to give the paper publications of Ajakirjade Kirjastus a better output in the internet and support the co-operation between the publications and the strong web platforms of Ekspress Grupp and Suits Meedia. In 2018, it is not reasonable to begin constructing a new large web centre, instead it is sensible to offer the reader quality content in co-operation with existing platforms, that is Delfi and Õhtuleht,” Rüütsalu explained the background of the transaction.
None of the magazines issued will be closed: the strong and loved media brands of Ajakirjade Kirjastus will continue being published, but their content will be more accessible to the readers. The six monthlies and Kroonika will be available on the website of the market leader Delfi. Õhtuleht on the third position will be able to strengthen itself with the content of three monthlies, crosswords and the weeklies, which are well compatible with its profile.
For the subscribers, all magazine subscriptions will remain unchanged. The price of the subscriptions will not change as the result of the reorganization.
AS Ajakirjade Kirjastus was founded in 2000, the market leader of publishing magazines in Estonia publishes 36 editions with a total of more than 600 000 readers. The company employs 150 people. In 2016, the sales revenue of Ajakirjade Kirjastus was 9,2 million Euros. The largest publications of Ajakirjade Kirjastus are Eesti Naine (18 900 copies), Nipiraamat (17 000 copies), Pere ja Kodu (12 400 copies), Kodukiri (12 300 copies) and Anne & Stiil (11 900 copies) and weeklies Teleleht (37 000 copies), Kroonika (33 400 copies) ja Naisteleht (28 900 copies).
Ajakirjade Kirjastus is owned in equal shares by Ekspress Grupp and Suits Meedia.
Additional information
Mari-Liis Rüütsalu
Chairman of the Management Board
mariliis.ryytsalu@egrupp.ee
GSM +372 512 2591