Alma Group

Overview

This profile considers the Helsinki-based Alma Media group.

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It covers -

• introduction
• development and shape of the group
• studies

Introduction

The Finnish Alma Media group is a television, radio, newspaper, magazine and book publishing conglomerate.

It competes with Sanoma WSOY and other regional operators such as Schibsted and Bonnier.

The group

Alma Media is active in Finland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.

As of December 2004 it was 33% owned by Bonnier (up from 24% in 1999). In February 2005 Bonnier and Proventus (which bought an 8% stake) jointly acquired Alma's broadcasting division (inc Finnish TV channel MTV3, a majority holding in the Finnish radio station Radio Nova and 23.4% of Swedish TV4 AB) for €463 million. The deal followed an unsolicited €705m bid for Alma by Schibsted.

It is expected that Almanova, a newly established company, will acquire the Bonnier (33%) and Proventus (8%) stake in Alma Media for €340 million.

Alma was the first Finnish media company to have nationwide operations in newspapers, television and radio. It is the second-largest Finnish media group by turnover, albeit significantly smaller than SanomaWSOY.

Its main businesses are

• newspaper publishing
• production and distribution of business information
• television and radio broadcasting
• new media
• printing.

Sales in 2001 were €480m. The Group has approximately 4,000 employees.

Studies

There are no major English-language studies specific to Alma Media.

Rauno Endén 1996 A History of Broadcasting in Finland (not sighted for this profile) covers the complicated history of Finnish commercial and public sector broadcasting.

There is a succinct account in the 1999 paper by Johanna Sumiala-Seppänen on 'A Longstanding Experiment' - The History of the Finnish Broadcasting Model.

A description of the newspaper landscape is here and Medialinnakkeet considers ownership of the Finnish media as a whole.