Watchdog Eat Dog

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From top: Robert Pitt (left) and Leslie Buckley at an Independent News and Media (INM) meeting in 2016

Ireland’s corporate watchdog intends to apply to the High Court to appoint inspectors to investigate Independent News & Media (INM).

The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) began an investigation into INM following a clash between the company’s then chief executive Robert Pitt and chairman Leslie Buckley in 2016 over the terms of a possible acquisition of Newstalk.

CEO Robert Pitt made a protected disclosure under whistleblower legislation about the circumstances surrounding the proposed bid, prompting the ODCE’s investigation.

INM said it had been informed that the ODCE will make an application to the court on April 16 for the appointment of an investigator, adding that it was taking legal advice as to whether the court would have sufficient grounds to do so.

Meanwhile…

The news is another setback for INM, which reported a 32 per cent drop in profits for 2017, a year in which it issued two profit warnings.

In the second of these, one of the cited reasons was higher-than-expected legal costs. Its latest observation that “material costs” may arise is unlikely to be received well by shareholders.

For the company’s employees, the events that have led to this ODCE intervention may be regarded as a rather sad distraction from the business of publishing newspapers.

INM has spent a good deal of this decade in a state of flux, and there is little evidence that this will change anytime soon.

Media group INM in flux as corporate watchdog makes big move (Laura Slattery, Irish Times)

Corporate watchdog to appoint inspectors to Ireland’s largest newspaper group (Reuters)

UPDATE:

Shares in Independent News and Media slumped over 13% in opening trade on the Dublin ISEQ index today.

The drop came after it emerged that the State’s corporate watchdog intends to apply to the High Court to appoint inspectors to investigate the company, Ireland’s largest newspaper group.

INM shares slump as ODCE set to apply for appointment of inspectors (Independent.ie)

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3 thoughts on “Watchdog Eat Dog

  1. qwerty123

    Newstalk is a dog’s dinner of a radio station, low ratings and loss making. Nobody in their right mind would ever buy it. The fact INM would ever even consider it, is strange indeed.

  2. Frilly Nation : The Rupture is real

    meh
    I’m not sure this is the story ye all think it is

    btw Q123
    Buying Newstalk was all about acquiring another communication channel
    Nothing in Main Stream is capable of making money anymore unless its just about asset stripping
    Or Controlling the output

    so what do you think the motivation for acquiring a Dublin based national radio licence is?

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