RMF group: investor in the cards for Interia portal, not for radio venture

Executives of Krakow-based media group RMF, owner of the RMF FM radio station, recently announced that it intends to expand both its radio and Internet businesses, but that its new-economy ventures would likely receive more investments in the near future. RMF vice-president Marek Dworak said his company's name shouldn't be associated with radio alone, highlighting the group's plans to move more aggressively into the multimedia segment. Dworak pointed to the fact that RMF FM is currently the leader in domestic radio advertising, bringing in over 40% of all money spent on this advertising medium in Poland, as one reason for its not seeking an investor for RMF FM in the immediate future. However, this year, RMF representatives say, the group is looking for an investor to further develop Interia.pl, a portal RMF operates together with the IT firm Comarch. Next month, Interia will become the first portal to debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW). (Puls Biznesu, p.5) A.Z. Compaq executive hints at possibility of further investment in Poland Andrzej Widerszpil, general director of the Polish branch of Compaq, recently hinted at the possibility of the giant investing into computer assembly in Poland. Though Widerszpil was upbeat about Poland's economic prospects in 2001, pointing to the country's need to continue investing heavily in IT and telecommunications technologies, he was quick to add that assembling computers in Poland would bring no great profits to the country's economy. Compaq's local branch is expecting to increase its revenues this year to zl 900 million. The company closed last year with zl 600 million in revenues. (Puls Biznesu, p.3) J.K.