Siv Juvik Tveitnes, CEO of Schibsted Media, and Patrik Hofbauer, CEO of Telia Company. Photo: Christofer Karlsson
Nordic media business Schibsted Media this morning announced it has agreed to acquire Swedish telco Telia’s TV and media business TVM, which owns TV4 in Sweden and MTV in Finland. The deal values TVM at SEK 6.55 billion (£490 million) on a cash and debt-free basis, according to Schibsted. The transaction is expected to close in Q3 this year, subject to regulatory approval.
The deal adds a substantial TV business to Schibsted’s existing portfolio of news companies, which are primarily digital and print-based. Schibsted Media runs Norwegian newspaper VG, Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet, and Norwegian digital media house Aftenposten, among other properties. The addition of MTV in Finland also significantly expands Schibsted’s presence in Finland, where it currently runs podcast platform Podme.
Siv Juvik Tveitnes, CEO of Schibsted Media, said that TV4 and MTV are “trusted and independent news providers and national cornerstones for the protection of domestic values”. Tveitnes added that Schibsted Media is “dedicated to preserving and strengthening TV4 and MTV as reliable and independent media providers”.
Seeking scale to safeguard editorial independence
For Telia, the sale represents an exit from the media ownership business, which it entered in 2019 when it bought TV4 and MTV Oy (under their previous collective name Bonnier Broadcasting). The company’s president and CEO Patrik Hofbauer said the sale will allow Telia to focus on its core telco business.
“Our priority is to focus on what Telia does best – providing world-class connectivity on which millions of people rely every day – and this agreement clearly reflects that,” he said. “We have an opportunity to secure a new home for TV & Media with a long-term Nordic owner that can further develop the business while maintaining its editorial independence.”
For Schibsted meanwhile, the move will add scale to its ads business, which CEO Tveitnes says is key to preserving independent news output. Referencing the addition of TV4 to Schibsted’s Swedish portfolio, she said that as competition in the media market intensifies, “building complete and nationally rooted media positions with scale and investment capacity is more important than ever to safeguard editorial independence. This agreement marks a significant step towards forming a leading Nordic media destination with strong independent brands”.
With the expanded stable of media properties, Schibsted says it will look at joint opportunities around personalisation, advertising, content rights, and subscription models, which it says will be “attractive to users and advertisers alike”.
Follow VideoWeek on Twitter and LinkedIn.
