Defunct The Times newspaper lost R1.6bn in 10 years. How now Gupta, Surve’ Media?

By Alec Hogg

In the news business, last week went past in a blur. New appointees as Zimbabwean president and SA Police Commissioner; explosive Parliamentary hearings into Eskom; oil-from-coal group Sasol switching away from hydrocarbons; and then on Friday night, S&P downgrading SA debt to junk, sparking another smack for the Rand.

In among all that, on Tuesday I spent a fruitful hour in Mayfair at the Annual General Meeting of JSE-listed Tiso Blackstar. You have to wonder why shareholders allow their annual gathering to be held 9,000km from the company’s home base. But for me it was an opportunity, because of eight people in the hired-for-the-morning Regus boardroom off Berkeley Square, I was the sole outsider.

This allowed for some on-the-record discourse with Andrew Bonamour, the venture capitalist who took over as the group’s CEO four years ago. The most interesting part was an admission that his now defunct newspaper, The Times, had lost a staggering R1.6bn in its 10 years of existence. Although outsiders long suspected it was a disaster, past management consistently claimed it to be bucking the crash newspaper economics.

Now we know the truth about The Times, one shudders to think what losses are at Gupta, sorry Jimmy Media’s much lower circulation The New Age. Or, indeed, the extent of bleeding at Iqbal Surve’s Independent Newspapers, into which State Pensioners (via the PIC) have lent a cool billion rand. The truth will out. No matter how skillful those managing the charade.

Response from Andrew Bonamour, CEO of Tiso Blackstar

We are an English company, we have to have our AGM in UK. As well as board. Our primary listing is UK, all our initial capital was raised in the UK and Europe. We do have investor presentations in JHB and CT where all shareholders are invited including journalists. We did these in Oct.

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