The owner of the Daily News, Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, has taken over the Financial Gazette, one of the biggest financial papers in the country.
The deal is reported to have been sealed several months ago but has been kept under wraps because a consortium of Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front affiliated business people who allegedly included Information Communication Technology Minister Supa Mandiwanzira wanted to have the deal reversed.
Zimbabwe’s richest man, Strive Masiyiwa, owned 50 percent of ANZ through his company Meditation Investments before the paper was closed down in 2003 but it is not clear whether he maintained any shareholding when it was allowed to publish again in 2010.
But insiders say the consortium was upset that, Gideon Gono, the owner of the Financial Gazette, who has fallen on hard times, had sold the paper to what they considered the opposition.
Gono is a member of ZANU-PF but was foiled by one of the factions from taking over the Manicaland Senate seat left vacant following the death of Kumbirai Kangai who, like Gono, came from Buhera.
The Zimbabwe Independent on Friday reported that rival factions of ZANU-PF were in a state of panic following a three-hour meeting between Gideon Gono and ZANU-PF leader Robert Mugabe.
Strive Masiyiwa also once had a shareholding in ZIMind Publishers which owned the Independent and the Standard.
The two papers, together with the daily Newsday, are now owned by Alpha Media Holdings.
According to sources the consortium was prepared to offer Gono much more money if he reversed his decision but whispers say ANZ was not prepared to budge.
The consortium is reported to have since given up and reports say Mandiwanzira who owns AB Communications that currently owns two radio stations including its flagship ZiFM will be starting his own financial paper soon.
The whispers also say Zimpapers, publishers of the Herald and the Sunday Mail, might convert the current Business Herald that appears every Thursday as part of the main paper might be turned into a stand-alone paper.
The first hint about the takeover was published in a memo to subscribers on 23 February though it appeared to be a promotion linking the Financial Gazette with the Financial Mail and Associated Newspapers.
The promotion said subscribers of the print edition of the Financial Gazette would start receiving free copies of South Africa’s Financial Mail “in yet another example of smart partnerships being pursued by Zimbabwe’s iconic business and financial newspaper to enhance its product offering”.
They were also to get free access to the e-business daily newsletter, Business Live.
Financial Gazette editor-in-chief Hama Saburi also announced, in the promotion, that the “pink paper” would undertake various changes, including a major redesign and lay-out and its website would only be accessible to subscribers from June.
Deep down the promotion Saburi says the Financial Gazette and Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, publishers of the Daily News and the Daily News on Sunday, have forged “rewarding synergies” between the two organisations in the critical areas of distribution and printing.
He adds: “In this environment, if you don’t innovate you will die. We will therefore continue to explore other opportunities similar to what we have been doing whereby we re-configured our distribution and printing arrangements, with amazing outcomes for both partners.
“There is a lot more we can do. We are even looking at changing our location so that our valued customers can do business with us without having to worry about the frustrating congestion and chaos in down-town Harare, where we are currently operating from.
“A key consideration will obviously be to situate ourselves where we can easily converse and coordinate with the providers of essential services to save on time and eliminate logistical nightmares in our day to day activities.
“We are not limiting our horizons; the underlining objective is that of achieving a lean, mean structure, hence we will more than welcome any partnership, synergy or alliance that could bring down costs in terms of rentals, by way of shared services or resources to bring about precision and speed as we navigate the obtaining harsh economic climate.”
Sources said this was confirmation that the Financial Gazette will be leaving its Thomson House premises, probably at the end of this month, to settle at its new owners offices at Eastgate.
Some of the current Financial Gazette employees are likely to be laid off but Saburi is likely to retain his job, though, a new editor had been identified when ANZ bought the pink paper.-Insider
