Opimus Press buys Népszabadság publisher Mediaworks Hungary

Budapest (MTI) – Opimus Press has acquired 100 percent of Mediaworks Hungary, the publisher of daily Népszabadság, which suspended the paper earlier this month citing financial reasons, the website of the Budapest Stock Exchange showed on Tuesday.

Opimus Group informed its shareholders during the day that its wholly-owned subsidiary had bought Mediaworks Hungary with the approval of the Competition Office.

Mediaworks’ former owner Vienna Capital Partners told MTI in a statement that the company had been sold. The owner has decided to immediately sell Mediaworks because of a high level of interest in the company and because “the temporary suspension of Népszabadság resulted in misleading and malicious rumours (while a complete shutdown of the paper was never a realistic option)”.

Optimus Press has been chosen because “it expressed an intent to seriously examine the possibility” of relaunching Népszabadság, the statement added.