The story
Founded by William Martin Murphy in 1904.1
Early history
The company was formed as Independent Newspapers Limited in 1904 by William Martin Murphy, as the publisher of the Irish Independent.
The O'Reilly years
In 1973, (Sir) Tony O'Reilly acquired 100% of the "A" shares of the company from the Murphy and Chance families, and was later forced to bid for the "B" (non-voting) shares. The company was subsequently floated on the Irish Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange. The group expanded overseas, acquiring interests in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
In 1999, the company name was changed to Independent News and Media plc.
O'Reilly was CEO until early 2009; one of his sons, formerly COO, Gavin O'Reilly, became CEO in early 2009, and two others were non-executive directors for many years. O'Reilly himself resigned as CEO on 19 April 2012 and was replaced by Vincent Crowley. O'Reilly had come under pressure in recent months from two of INM's largest shareholders, billionaire Denis O'Brien and financier Dermot Desmond.
The O'Brien and Desmond years
In May 2012, Irish entrepreneur Denis O'Brien held a 29.9% stake in the company, making him the largest shareholder at the time. This compares to O'Reilly's family stake of around 13% (June 2012). Five per cent of the holding company was held by Clear Channel Communications, transferred in return for control of a South African outdoor advertising firm.
On 26 April 2013, INM announced it had concluded a deal with its bankers to exchange part of its debt for up to 20 per cent of equity. The deal was subject to the sale of its South African newspapers, a reduction in staff levels of 10%, a capital raising, and the restructuring of the company's pension plan.
2019 change of ownership
In 2019, it was reported that INM was up for sale. According to reports, suitors include Schibsted, Sanoma Media and a private equity firm.
In April 2019, it was reported that INM had accepted an ownership bid of €145.6 million from Belgian media group Mediahuis. The offer was subject to acceptance by shareholders at an EGM, competition authority approval and government approval.
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In May 2019, Mediahuis increased its stake to 29.9%.
An EGM held on 26 June 2019 approved the Mediahuis offer.
On 10 June 2019, the CCPC, which is the Irish competition authority, approved the acquisition.
On 28 June 2019, the acquisition received approval of shareholders. The acquisition was then subject to the approval of the Minister for Communications and the sanction of the High Court, as it was executed by way of a scheme of arrangement.
On 16 July 2019, it was announced that the court hearing would be on 30 July 2019.
On 29 July 2019, Richard Bruton, the Minister for Communications, "unconditionally" cleared the proposed deal.
On 30 July 2019, court approval was received for the deal. Trading of INM shares on Euronext Dublin (formerly the Irish Stock Exchange) and the London Stock Exchange was suspended, with the cancellation of shares taking effect on 1 August. INM was then re-registered as a private limited company. The process to buy up all of INM's outstanding shares from around 7,000 shareholders took place until the end of August 2019.
Mediahuis ownership (September 2019 – present)
In October 2019, it was reported that INM were closing their CityWest print plant.
In November 2019, it was announced that Mediahuis plans to transfer €60m to Belgian parent from INM.
In July 2020, it was reported that INM had acquired motor data company Cartell.ie.
In July 2020, it was announced that Independent News & Media had reached an agreement to sell their 50% stake in Independent Star to Reach plc. The agreement was subject to competition authority approval and was cleared by CCPC, the Irish competition authority and the Minister for Communications on 20 November 2020. The deal became effective in December 2020.
In March 2023, a redundancy programme was announced.
In April 2023, Mediahuis CEO said that daily newspapers would disappear within the next decade.
From Wikipedia’s article on Mediahuis Ireland, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4