Europapress Holding

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Europapress Holding
Type Private
Founded 1990
Founder Ninoslav Pavic
Headquarters Koranska 2, Zagreb, Croatia
Owner Ninoslav Pavic, Chairman and CEO

Europapress Holding (EPH) is the leading media company in Croatia and Southeast Europe, with 5 daily newspapers and more than 30 magazines. According to Media Market Monitor, it is the largest and fastest growing private media company in Southeast Europe. [1]

EPH's consumer magazines are aimed at the public and range from general-interest titles such as Cosmopolitan, Grazia and Playboy, which appeal to a broad spectrum of readers, to highly specialist titles covering particular hobbies, leisure pursuits or other interest. EPH's book publishing division sold more than 20 million books in the last few years. EPH also has strong national and international operations and is involved in printed media distribution, media production and tourism. [2]

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Founding

Founded in 1990 by Ninoslav Pavić and his partners, Europapress Holding's first publication was the weekly news magazine Globus.

First published in December 1990, Globus was originally devised as a tabloid. Low circulation and financial losses marked its first year in print. However, with the start of the Croatian War of Independence, Globus instantly shifted its focus and started publishing revealing stories from the front lines. It was the first publication to report war crimes committed by Croatian forces against Serbs in Croatia.

Later on, in mid and late 1990s, Globus started writing about the shady aspects of privatization in Croatia, organized crime and all other topics avoided by the government-controlled media. As such, Globus is credited for introducing investigative and independent journalism in Croatia. Ever since its founding, Globus remained the most influential political magazine in Croatia.

[edit] EPH launches Playboy

In 1996, Playboy Enterprises and Europapress Holding announced a partnership to launch a new edition of Playboy magazine in Croatia. Playboy Croatia officially launched with its February/March 1997 issue. [3]

[edit] Starting a new daily newspaper

In 1998, Europapress Holding decided to start Jutarnji list (trans. "morning paper"), a modern daily newspaper with progressive social views. It was launched in April 1998, being the first successful daily newspaper to appear after Croatian independence. It was named after a Zagreb daily that used to circulate before WW2. It quickly took the lion's share of Croatian media market and became one of the most read newspapers in country. Today, it's circulation is about 115,000. [4]

[edit] Acquisition of Sportke Novosti

In 1999, Europapress holding bought Sportske novosti, the only sports daily in Croatia and one of the leading sports newspapers in Europe. On 30 December 2005 Zvonimir Boban was appointed CEO of Sportske novosti. [5]

[edit] Bomb attack on Pavic

On 1 March 2003, a bomb exploded under the car of Nino Pavić, the owner of Croatia’s biggest private publishing company Europapress Holding. Pavić was not in the car when the bomb exploded. No one was hurt, but the police investigation failed to trace the attacker or attackers. [6] The attack received worldwide condemnation from other publishers and human rights organizations. The President of World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represents 18,000 publications in 100 countries, wrote a letter to the Croatian government to express serious concern at the attempted murder of press magnate Pavic.[7] The leading human rights and democracy monitoring organization OSCE claimed that the "car bombing targeting Croatian media mogul Pavic was an 'act of terror'". [8]

[edit] Acquisition of Slobodna Dalmacija

In 2005, EPH launched a buyout bid of more than 540 millions kunas (80 million euros) for the popular local daily, Slobodna Dalmacija. [9] The offer was accepted, and in late 2005 the deal was settled. There were a number of negative reactions and accusations of a potentially monopolistic position the purchase would mean for EPH. Slobodna Dalmacija has since seen an increase in circulation, now at around 60,000 copies, as well as an updated layout and format. [10]

[edit] New Medium project

Novi Medij (New Medium) was a citizen journalism project launched by Europapress holding (EPH). The goal of the project was to create a popular new online medium in which all citizens could directly participate. The public will be invited to participate during the pre-production phase in order to determine how the future website will look like. [11]

[edit] EPH enters mobile communications

EPH, T-Mobile Croatia and Agrokor signed the agreement to jointly enter mobile communications on the Croatian market. The agreement will also include other members of the Agrokor concern and EPH Group. The partners will join forces and areas of expertise in extending the mobile communications offer on the Croatian market, from March next year. Agrokor and EPH will place products with the brand “KMOBILE”. [12]

[edit] EPH products

[edit] Newspapers

[edit] Magazines

  • Globus (weekly news magazine)
  • Gloria (celebrity magazine)
  • Feral Tribune (satirical and political weekly magazine)
  • Croatian editions of Cosmopolitan, Grazia, Playboy
  • Serbian edition of Playboy
  • Arena (life stories & celebrities weekly magazine)
  • Vita (wellness & advice)
  • Doktor u Kuci (health)
  • OK! (teenage magazine)
  • Teen (teenage magazine)
  • Astro Magazin (horoscopes & astrology magazine)

[edit] Websites

  • Jutarnji.hr (news portal)
  • Slobodna-dalmacija.hr (news portal)
  • Reci.hr (blogs & forums)
  • Autoklub.hr (automobiles & motor sports)
  • Sutra.hr (citizen journalism)
  • Sibenski-list.hr (weekly news from Sibenik Region)

[13]

[edit] References

[edit] External links