BITTER RIVALRY IN THE UK AS O’REILLY AND O’BRIEN SLUG IT OUT OVER SALE OF THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
December 17th 2007 22:21
The Guardian reports that Sir Anthony O'Reilly will "fiercely resist" any proposal from his rival, media and telecoms tycoon Denis O'Brien, to sell the loss-making UK Independent and Independent on Sunday.
The Guardian said, “Reacting to O'Brien's increasing stake in O'Reilly's Independent News & Media group last week, a spokesman for O'Reilly said the former Irish rugby international would not contemplate putting the two London titles up for sale.
The spokesman's dismissal of O'Brien's criticism of the Independent News & Media continued ownership of the Independent and the Independent on Sunday reflects the growing bitterness between the Irish telecoms and media billionaire and O'Reilly.
But O’Reilly himself continued the attack in an interview he gave the Sunday Business Post.
The Sunday Business Post reported, “Independent News and Media chief executive Gavin O’Reilly has launched a stinging attack on the track record and intentions of telecoms billionaire Denis O’Brien, who has raised his stake in the media group to 14.5 percent.”
In the interview with The Sunday Business Post, O’Reilly said that O’Brien was critical of Independent News & Media because ‘‘he is hostile to the editorial coverage of him in titles owned by Independent.”
He said that O’Brien, who has criticised the corporate governance and size of the board at Independent News & Media, had very little experience of running a publicly quoted company other than briefly at Esat Telecom, where only four of the 24 directors were independent members. O’Reilly accused O’Brien of failing to appreciate the subtleties required to run a media business.
He emphasised that Independent News & Media radio interests in Australia made more profit than O’Brien’s radio business, Communicorp, takes in an annual revenue.
‘‘He [O’Brien] has been good at building up capital in businesses, but running and growing a business on through in terms of making a net profit is an optional extra,” O’Reilly said.
- From MediaBlab
The Guardian said, “Reacting to O'Brien's increasing stake in O'Reilly's Independent News & Media group last week, a spokesman for O'Reilly said the former Irish rugby international would not contemplate putting the two London titles up for sale.
The spokesman's dismissal of O'Brien's criticism of the Independent News & Media continued ownership of the Independent and the Independent on Sunday reflects the growing bitterness between the Irish telecoms and media billionaire and O'Reilly.
The Sunday Business Post reported, “Independent News and Media chief executive Gavin O’Reilly has launched a stinging attack on the track record and intentions of telecoms billionaire Denis O’Brien, who has raised his stake in the media group to 14.5 percent.”
In the interview with The Sunday Business Post, O’Reilly said that O’Brien was critical of Independent News & Media because ‘‘he is hostile to the editorial coverage of him in titles owned by Independent.”
He said that O’Brien, who has criticised the corporate governance and size of the board at Independent News & Media, had very little experience of running a publicly quoted company other than briefly at Esat Telecom, where only four of the 24 directors were independent members. O’Reilly accused O’Brien of failing to appreciate the subtleties required to run a media business.
He emphasised that Independent News & Media radio interests in Australia made more profit than O’Brien’s radio business, Communicorp, takes in an annual revenue.
- From MediaBlab
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