Companies

Financial Times owner Pearson has sold its 13.85 per cent stake in India's daily business newspaper Business Standard, according to the Guardian. Pearson has decided to give up its shares in the newspaper four years after it became the first foreign company to make a major investment in an Indian business title. The two papers had collaborated for more than a decade before Pearson bought the stake...

Shareholders of Kasturi and Sons Ltd, the publisher of the Hindu newspaper, are believed to be in talks with Australia’s Fairfax Media Ltd for a possible sale of a minority stake in the Chennai-based company, a first for the 130-year-old, family-owned group, says a report in Mint. Some details: The financial details of Kasturi and Sons could not be obtained as it is an unlisted and closely held...

Kasturi and Sons Ltd are believed to be in talks to sell a minority stake to Australia's Fairfax Media Ltd, the Mint paper said on Wednesday, citing sources close to the Indian firm. The paper cited sources close to Kasturi shareholders as saying discussions were on to sell a stake. Under Indian law, the maximum foreign holding permissible is a stake of up to 26 percent. The family-owned Indian...

The Associated Press (AP) will further cut fees paid by struggling newspaper members and develop an advertising-supported service that will deliver stories and photos to advanced cell phones. The service, which will carry local news from participating newspapers as well as national and international news from AP, is being tested with several newspaper companies and is expected to launch in the...

Rupert Murdoch and Sam Zell, two media barons who led major newspaper acquisitions in recent times, are among four new members joining the board of directors of the Associated Press (AP), it was announced Monday at the news cooperative's annual meeting. Four incumbent directors were re-elected to three-year terms. They are William Dean Singleton, who is vice chairman and chief executive officer of...

German newspaper publishing houses are opposing plans by Deutsche Post World Net AG to launch a free newspaper, according to a Thomson Financial report. Deutsche Post's board member Juergen Gerdes Wednesday said in an interview with Financial Times Deutschland the German mail services company aims to grow its revenues from advertising as a way of offsetting declines in its core mail business, and...

The new management at France's establishment influential daily Le Monde wants to sack 130 staff, including a quarter of its journalists, to stem heavy losses, Reuters has reported. Eric Fottorino, who was recently appointed as chief executive of the Le Monde group, told staff on Friday the tough restructuring plan was needed to keep the paper afloat. "To reject it would surely deny us any chance...

The Arabic Charter on Satellite has claimed another victim. Nilesat, an Egyptian government-owned satellite transmission company, stopped carrying the London-based Al-Hewar Television channel on April 1 without warning or explanation. The station remains accessible to viewers on the Atlantic Bird satellite system, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). In a letter...

The Seattle Times Co will eliminate about 190 positions by next month because of continuing revenue declines. In a memo to employees, which was posted on the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild website, Times Publisher Frank Blethen and Times Co President Carolyn Kelly said the changes will be part of about $15 million in budget reductions during the next two months. "We had hoped the expense...

Network 18 and Marathi newspaper Lokmat have launched a regional news channel, says a CNN-IBN report. Bits from the promo news item: Speaking about the new venture CNN-IBN’s Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai said, “Our aim with IBN Lokmat was to build truly a world class regional channel that will fulfill the aspirations of the people of Maharashtra but more importantly will become a sort of bridge...