Agora to launch portal; 4media buys Ad rem
Gazeta Wyborcza publisher Agora said last week that it was on the verge of launching gazeta.pl, its long-awaited news and lifestyle portal. Agora is counting on the portal to play a central role in its plans to delve into segments of the media market where the publisher has yet to establish a presence.
Until the portal's launch, expected last Saturday, Agora had been running a trial version of the site at gwar.com.pl, which featured news categories such as private life, information, jobs and money, and the Internet. Dorota Nowak, spokeswoman for Agora, said that gazeta.pl users would see a major improvement in the portal's content.
"There will be no significant graphical differences between the two versions," she said. "The final one, though, will have much richer content."
Agora said the portal would replace its present Web site (http://www.gazeta.pl). But according to analysts, the portal is a late arrival, which could weaken its position on the Internet market. "I am disappointed with the pace of this project," said Andrzej Kasperek, an analyst with Bank Handlowy. "It was expected to be launched in December. While Agora was at a standstill, other portals such as Interia attracted half a million users."
Interia became the first domestic portal to be listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (See story, page 11).
Agora planned to spend zl. 14 million ($3.4 million) on staff and equipment last year and as much as zl. 40 million ($9.75 million) by 2002. According to Nowak, Agora shelled out zl. 33 million ($8 million) in 2000 alone. Interia, Kasperek said, invested just zl. 17 million ($4.1 million) in its portal.
"Onet.pl and wp.pl are the No. 1 and 2 portals in Poland so other portals, including Agora, will compete for third place," he said. According to Kasperek, the leading portals' strength is their connection with old media such as radio and television. Onet.pl was purchased by ITI Holdings, a media holding traded on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and a majority shareholder in private broadcaster TVN. Interia is owned by RMF FM, one of the nation's leading commercial radio stations. "Press is also a strong medium so this connection with Gazeta Wyborcza (via Agora's portal) might be interesting," he said.
The official launch of gazeta.pl has been rescheduled for February.
Media group 4Media, a former tannery known as Chemiskor, has been busy buying up more local and national publications. Last week 4Media bought 52% of Ad rem, the publisher of "Mis-przyjaciel najmlodszych," a magazine for children. Earlier this month, 4Media became the sole owner of Dom Wydawniczy Wolne Slowo, publisher of national daily Zycie, after acquiring the company's remaining 36% stake. Zycie has a circulation of 90,000-140,000 and is read by 1% of the national daily newspaper audience, according to market research company SMG/KRC.
4Media has a two-year plan to become one of Poland's leading publicly traded media companies along with Agora.
Last week the Business Journal learned that 4Media representatives were in Kielce, where it plans to launch a free daily. According to sources, journalists from Kielce's two local papers Echo Dnia and Slowo Ludu have already been recruited to work in the paper's editorial department. Anna Kosinska, press spokesman for 4Media, said the company's strategy is to publish free papers throughout the country including Warsaw, where a free daily will be launched in spring. "Talks in other cities are in progress," she said.
Television operator Central European Media Enterprises (CME) announced last week that SBS Broadcasting (SBS) had exercised a call option on notes due from International Trading and Investments Holdings (ITI), for $37.25 million plus accrued interest. ITI is a majority shareholder of private broadcaster TVN. The call option was granted to SBS as part of CME's sale of its Hungarian assets to SBS in February 2000.
Last July, SBS purchased a 33% stake in TVN for $91.6 million. It also agreed to buy ITI's senior convertible notes, which had been taken by CME in return for its interest in TVN. In 1998, CME pulled out of TVN because it couldn't agree to the station's strategy with partner ITI Holdings. CME acquired ITI's notes when it sold its 33% interest in TVN to ITI.
ITI Holdings, a leading media and entertainment group traded on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, is expected to make its debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange this year.
Ad agency D'Arcy's Warsaw office is putting together a campaign for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a non-profit organization devoted to preserving wildlife. A press campaign, scheduled to appear this week, is aimed at informing the Polish business community that the fund is opening an office on Jan. 25 in Warsaw called the Corporate Club.
D'Arcy spokeswoman Melania Stohnij said the press campaign will be crucial to the fund's success here because the WWF depends exclusively on donations from businesses and institutions. The campaign will appear in publications offering free ad space such as Rzeczpospolita and Wprost.
Stohnij wouldn't disclose any details about the next stage of the campaign, scheduled for later this year.
Although the WWF is only now opening an office in Poland, the fund has been involved in environmental projects here since the early 1990s. In 1993 it set up the Biebrzanski National Park, the country's biggest national park.
Justyna Wrobel contributed to this story
