Reach completes acquisition of Irish Daily Star newspaper
Reach is the new owner of the Irish Daily Star newspaper and websites after it was cleared by the Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) to proceed with the acquisition.
It brings the number of newspapers we publish in Ireland - North and South - to eight, plus one female lifestyle magazine (RSVP) and six online titles (Irishmirror.ie, Dublin Live, Cork Beo, Belfast Live, RSVP Live and Buzz.ie).
We already owned 50% of the publication in a joint venture with Independent News and Media (INM) as part of our acquisition of Northern and Shell in 2018 and earlier this year we agreed a deal to buy the remaining 50% from INM, subject to regulatory approval which has now been granted.
The acquisition was completed on Monday, November 23rd 2020 and cements Reach’s place one of the biggest publishers of national and regional news brands in Ireland with an existing portfolio that includes the NI and Irish editions of the Daily and Sunday Mirror newspapers, the Sunday People newspaper, RSVP magazine and five news sites that reached a record total online audience of 23.5 million users last month.
When it was announced in July that we would purchase INM’s 50% stake to give it full ownership of the tabloid, our CEO Jim Mullen said “it is a natural next step.”
On the completion of the acquisition, he added: “We are pleased to have secured regulatory clearance and look forward to building on the significant potential of the Irish Daily Star and Buzz.ie.”
Marketplace Publisher for Ireland, Joanne McGreevy commented: “We are looking forward to welcoming the Irish Star team to the Reach family and are really excited about adding this heritage brand to our expanding portfolio.
“Even though we are a leading digital publisher, combining The Star with the Irish Daily Mirror now gives us huge scale in the Irish popular morning print market which will be really attractive to advertisers.”
Chris Sherrard, Audience and Content Director for Ireland, added: “We’re very excited to be adding the Irish Star to our growing stable of titles across print and digital.
“The Star is a superb tabloid newspaper that leaps out at you from the newsstands every day so we’re really looking forward to working with the team to help it grow as a brand.”
Marc Vangeel, CEO of Independent News & Media, said: “We welcome the successful conclusion of the regulatory process, and we are pleased that the parties can now move forward towards completion. We will work with Reach to ensure a smooth transition, and we are confident that the Irish Daily Star has a bright future ahead within the Reach portfolio.”
The Irish Daily Star Newspaper will continue to trade through Independent Star Ltd, as a subsidiary of Reach plc.