Babiš wants to sell Mafra. They can buy Křetínský or Tykač
Andrej Babiš wants to sell his media kingdom Mafra. The iDnes server, the newspapers Mladá fronta DNES and Lidové noviny or radio Impuls – all of this could change owners, and the Czech media scene and Czech business could soon experience a battle of the titans.
Such information is circulating in the Czech business environment ten days before the second round of presidential elections, in which Andrej Babiš is one of the candidates for the highest office, and Forbes confirmed it as a source of close negotiations.
“At the end of last year, Andrej Babiš actually expressed his willingness to sell Mafra. Negotiations have been ongoing since then,” a source familiar with the situation told Forbes.
Among those interested in the media group, which is one of the most important in the Czech Republic due to its influence, are, according to Forbes the fourth richest Czech Republic Daniel Křetínský a the sixth richest Czech Republic Pavel Tykač. Křetínský already owns the Czech Media Center publishing house, under whose wings the most widely read Czech daily Blesk belongs, abroad he has a share in the important French daily Le Monde and in several magazines and television stations in France and Germany.
This would be the first investment in the media for Tykač, who in recent years has mainly been involved in coal mining and energy.
“The negotiations are serious and advanced. However, we have to admit that there is still a very likely possibility that Mr. Babiš will eventually keep his media,” added the second source close to the meeting. “Andrej Babiš is waiting to see how the presidential elections will turn out. In any case, he is determined to do something with Mafra in a short period of time,” adds another participant in the meeting, who also wishes to remain anonymous.
According to information from the Forum, the price could be around 150 million euros. According to estimates, Mafra was bought by Andrej Babiš and his Agrofert almost ten years ago, in June 2013, for a similar, but never disclosed and unconfirmed amount.
Mafra is one of the most important media houses in the Czech Republic. The flagship among print media is Mladá fronta DNES, the second most read newspaper in the country, which is read by 420,000 people and 82,000 people buy it every day, according to the latest Mediaprojekt results.
However, the iDnes server, which is read by over 1.3 million people a day according to Netmonitor, is the second most read server in the Czech Republic after the Seznam group. With 718,000 listeners, Rádio Impuls is the second most listened to radio in the country after the public Radiožurnál.
However, despite its great influence and readership, the entire Mafra media house has been experiencing losses in recent years. In 2020, it amounted to over 867 crowns, in 2021 it will decrease to 113 million with sales of over 2.6 million crowns. Mafra has over a thousand employees.
But for the whole transaction, which would become one of the biggest in the media sphere in the last decade, it is necessary to take into account the struggle for the presidency. The second round will take place already on Friday and Saturday (January 27 and 28), and negotiations on the sale of the media house, which is often blamed for Andrej Babiš as a clear conflict of interest, may be part of his campaign.