If the enemy is published

The German media holding Axel Springer will leave the Russian market. In the near future, part of the group’s assets in Russia will be sold to the owner of Artcom Media Group Alexander Fedotov, RBC reports with reference to sources familiar with the situation. The amount of the transaction is not called.

Fedotov will receive 80 percent Axel Springer Russia. The remaining 20 percent can go to the current general director of the company Regina von Fleming. It was she who conducted on behalf of Axel Springer negotiations on the sale of Russian assets.

Axel Springer Russia publishes Forbes, OK!, GEO, GEO Traveller, GEOLOLOK, GALA Biography, controls the Finanz.ru website. According to TNS Russia, the average audience of one Forbes number in Russia is 1.5 million people, GEO is 1.25 million, OK weekly! - 585 thousand people. The audience of Forbes.ru in July was approximately 3 million people, Finanz.ru - 0.5 million, Geo.ru - 0.3 million.

According to the SPARK -Interfax system, the revenue of the Axel Springer Russia at the end of 2014 reached 872 million rubles, and a pure loss of 155 million. The revenue of the global media holding Axel Springer over the past year amounted to about 3 billion euros, net profit - 251 million euros.

Artcom Media Group is presented on the market as magazines about lifestyle and fashion (Numéro, Port, SNC), as well as design publications (Internet, Objekt, Exterieurs Design).

Axel Springer began to actively look for a buyer for his assets in Russia in connection with the adoption of a law on restriction of foreign capital in the Russian media.

In 2010, amendments were amended by the media law that limit the participation of foreign persons in the capital of television and radio companies with 50 percent. In September 2014, the legislation was tightened even more - new amendments allow only a 20 percent share of foreign persons in the Russian media, not only electronic, but also printed ones. Russian companies and individuals acting as the founders of the media through foreign jurisdictions should bring the structure of ownership in accordance with the new requirements of the law by 2017.

In February, the leaders of foreign publishing houses working in Russia, including Axel Springer, sent a letter to Vladimir Putin in which they presented their position to restrict foreigners to shared participation in Russian media. The amendments were, according to the authors of the letter, "very untimely." They pay attention to the fact that companies with foreign participation are key players in the Russian press market: the total audience of their publications reaches about 60 million people. Foreign media companies working in Russia provide directly or indirectly several tens of thousands of jobs in many areas of the economy. The authors of the letter note that all these jobs may be in danger if publishing houses are closed, and this option is very likely if the law does not change.