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 News From You
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Week ending March 10, 2012
Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF), the leading impact investment fund for independent news businesses in the developing world, today launched an early-stage fund for digital news and information businesses, Digital News Ventures.
Digital News Ventures will provide early-stage equity finance from $30,000 to $300,000 to entrepreneurs whose ideas can be used to provide news and information that is important to open societies or can help develop financially sustainable news businesses. Its goal is to foster innovative projects that will help change the way the world interacts with information. Digital News Ventures is a global fund with a primary focus on projects located in, or with particular application to, emerging and frontier markets.
“Digital News Ventures invests in the future of news,” said Syed Karim, MDLF Director of Innovation and Digital Strategies. “By financing visionary media ideas, particularly in emerging and frontier markets, we will help foster innovation in news and information, and help create the platforms, tools and services that news businesses need to be viable in the digital age.”
Digital News Ventures is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the New York-based Media Development Loan Fund, which has invested more than $113 million in 79 independent news companies in 27 countries since 1995. It backs up all of its debt and equity investments with strategic advice and business assistance.
“We have been active in the digital media space for 15 years and have financedsome of the most respected and successful on-line news sites in the developing world, including Malaysiakini.com and South Africa's M&G On-line,” said MDLF CEO Harlan Mandel. “Digital News Ventures is the next evolution of our strategy to foster innovation in news and information. It extends the scope of our investments beyond news businesses to projects that can change the way people interact with information.”
Digital News Ventures will invest in:
Innovative business models for producing credible news and information.
Platforms that generate and disseminate data and information constructed by the public.
Tools that help the editorial and content-creation process.
Services that help make sense of the onslaught of online information, including reporting on the social web.
Products that contribute to the viability of news operations.
Viable, independent digital news outlets, especially in frontier markets.
Projects seeking financing should visit digitalnewsventures.org.
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Gerhard Zeiler, Chief Executive Officer of RTL Group, said:
“2011 was marked by three main developments. First, all of our families of channels maintained or increased their strong audience shares. This was the foundation to outperform the increasingly challenging TV advertising markets in almost every country we operate in.
Secondly, RTL Group succeeded in maintaining its profitability at the very high level achieved in 2010: EBITA of over €1.1 billion, EBITA margin of almost 20 per cent, and net profit of €696 million – all these key indicators were either stable or even up year-on-year. Based on these results and a net cash position of €1.2 billion, the Board of Directors has decided to recommend a gross dividend payout of €5.10 per share.
Thirdly, RTL Group developed its international portfolio during 2011, to safeguard our leading market positions and to develop new businesses. We regained full control of our highly profitable Dutch TV operations, and bought out minority shareholders in Hungary and Croatia to build strong families of channels. Targeted online acquisitions in Germany and the Netherlands significantly strengthened our new media activities in these countries. Finally, we signed an agreement to exit the declining Greek broadcasting market.
We see different developments in the various countries we operate in. Looking at January and February 2012 we can say that the negative development many had feared did not happen. Given the high volatility of the various TV advertising markets throughout Europe, and the very short-term bookings cycle, it is not possible to give full-year guidance at the moment. However, RTL Group has repeatedly demonstrated that it can operate successfully in very difficult economic environments.”
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