Media24 says there’ll be no job cuts until Competition Commission approval

Media24 says it never received a “concrete offer” for the print editions of Rapport, Beeld, City Press or Daily Sun from Caxton.

Ishmet Davidson, CEO of Media24, stated to The Citizen on Friday that after Caxton first mentioned saving the newspapers, Media24 clarified that it didn’t make sense selling the brands, since they are “central and indivisible from our digital strategy”.

According to Davidson, Caxton, however, offered to buy their distribution business, On the Dot. “We turned down their offer.”

This comes after Moneyweb in June reported that Media24 planned to cease the print editions of Beeld, Rapport, City Press, Daily Sun, and Soccer Laduma, as well as the digital editions of Volksblad and Die Burger Oos-Kaap, along with the digital hub SNL24, by September. This would result in approximately 400 job losses.

Sale of On the Dot challenged by Caxton

Caxton has since announced that it plans to challenge Media24’s proposed sale of its distribution arm, On the Dot, to Novus Holdings at the Competition Commission.

Novus Holdings is a leading group in print, publishing, and packaging across southern Africa. It has a longstanding partnership with Media24, handling the printing of all the company’s newspapers.

Media24 said the transaction needs the commission’s approval, alongside its contemplation of potentially ceasing the print publications.

Consultation process on retrenchments to continue

Davidson said on Friday that Media24 will not implement any retrenchments before the Competition Commission approves the sale of On the Dot, several community newspapers and Soccer Laduma to Novus. 

“The supposed ‘stunning reversal’ reported by some media outlets is hardly that, since it was always our clearly stated intention to comply with the relevant regulatory and statutory requirements,” he said.

He said the consultation process with staff who received Section 189 notices will continue in the meantime. “Since we are contemplating retrenchments, we will continue the process as required by Section 189 legislation.

Two affected employees, however, on Friday said they have not been consulted since receiving the notices.

Sale of Beeld, Rapport and City Press ‘unlikely’

Davidson added that it’s very unlikely that Media24 will consider an offer for the print editions of Beeld, Rapport or City Press as “these brands are fundamental to our digital strategy, which is to serve our readers in the format which the vast majority prefers. Our proposal includes for Rapport’s news offering to continue under its masthead on Netwerk24, and that of City Press on News24. The Afrikaans news produced by the production team in the north, and which also appears in Beeld, is already an integral part of the Netwerk24 offering, and all the journalists are employed by Netwerk24”.

Capital Newspapers and Caxton placed adverts in print publications two weeks ago stating that there must be no early closure of Media24 newspapers until the sale of On the Dot to Novus and the newspaper closures have been approved by the competition authorities.

“As of Thursday evening, 10 July 2024, the position of Media24 was that no retrenchments would occur until the said merger is approved and that no newspapers will cease printing before the end of the relevant competition process. This signals a reprieve for the press and affords Caxton and Capital Newspapers the opportunity to meaningfully oppose the proposed merger,” Caxton said on Thursday.

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