Dozen express interest in 27% stake in The Economist

At least a dozen parties, including ultra-wealthy individuals and media companies, have shown preliminary interest in purchasing a 27% stake in The Economist, report Dawn Kopecki and Amy-Jo Crowley of Reuters.

Kopecki and Crowley report, “Founded in 1843, the publication has nearly 1,000 shareholders, with Exor, a holding vehicle for Italy’s Agnelli family, owning a 43.4% stake and the Rothschilds owning 27%, according to the Economist’s annual results.

“The sale is made more complex as the Economist’s governance is structured to ensure the editorial process at the 182-year-old publication remains independent, prohibiting any one individual or company from owning a controlling stake in the corporate parent.

“There have been few opportunities in recent years to buy into prestigious and influential British media empires. The owner of the Daily Mail, DMGT, recently stepped in to scoop up the Telegraph Media Group after British regulators banned foreign ownership of UK newspapers.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.