WSJ, FT must cut stakes in Russian biz paper by end of 2016

The owners of the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, co-founders of the Russian business newspaper Vedomosti, must cut or sell their 33 percent stakes by the end of 2016, according to a Bloomberg News report that notes that President Vladimir Putin signed a law limiting foreign holdings in media to 20 percent.

Irina Reznik, Ilya Khrennikov and Henry Meyer of Bloomberg write, “Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said ‘a market process’ will determine Vedomosti’s fate. ‘We don’t know what will happen to Vedomosti, who will buy it,’ he said by phone.

“The press services of OAO Gazprombank, which controls Gazprom-Media, and Kovalchuk’s National Media Group both declined to comment, as did the Journal’s parent company, News Corp., and the FT Group, a division of Pearson Plc, as well as Helsinki-based Sanoma.

“A leading contender for Sanoma’s Russian holdings, which include local editions of Cosmopolitan and Esquire magazines, is Peter Gerwe, a Moscow-based American with Russian backing, two of the people said. Gerwe said by e-mail that while he’s interested in the assets, he isn’t acting on behalf of anyone. He declined to elaborate.

“Vedomosti, which frequently publishes editorials and opinions critical of the government, and Axel Springer SE’s Forbes Russia are among the most-influential independent media outlets in the country. They are prized among executives and senior officials for their critical reporting, according to Masha Lipman, an independent political analyst in Moscow.”

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