Saudi investor ploughs millions into liberal icon of UK media: MEE
YemenExtra
A mysterious Saudi-based investor has ploughed millions of dollars into a British news organisation renowned for championing liberal causes, in a move that will enrage human rights and media freedom campaigners, Middle East Eye said in an exclusive report.
It added ” Sultan Mohamed Abuljadayel, 42, listed in company records as a Saudi-based Saudi Arabian national, has acquired up to 50 percent of the Independent website, whose newspaper shook Britain’s journalism establishment in the 1980s before struggling financially and ditching the printed word in 2016.”
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According to registers updated on Companies House on Friday, Abuljadayel controls up to 50 percent of voting rights within Independent Digital News and Media, the company that controls the Independent brand.
An informed Saudi source described Abuljadayel to Middle East Eye as coming from an “established business family based in Medina”.
He now sits with Evgeny Lebedev, the son of a Soviet KGB spy turned Russian oligarch, as a “person of significant control” in the company. Justin Byam Shaw, described by close associates as a “serial entrepreneur,” is a third.
A source with knowledge of the deal said the investment may be as much as $130mn, although MEE was unable to independently confirm the exact amount changing hands.
But such a figure would be an incredible reversal of fortunes for a company that had lost millions of pounds a year for decades and was sold to the Lebedev family in 2010 for £1.
The paper’s enduring left-of-centre coverage had ensured the title remained an editorial force even as it struggled with declining sales and huge losses before eventually closing in what was a blow to British media plurality.
The Independent’s fortunes have risen since the presses stopped rolling last year, however, with the company reporting a record profit of £1.7mn ($2.2mn) as online readership increased by 20 percent and revenue jumped by 75 percent.
A spokesman said “editorial independence of the Independent has been formally protected,” but the Saudi purchase of a “significant” chunk of the company has sparked criticism among rights campaigners.
Human rights activist Peter Tatchell told Middle East Eye: “It would not seem consistent with the Independent’s record of championing liberal values for a Saudi sultan to have a significant share in the ownership of this media outlet.
“A lot more questions need to be asked, and answered, before the public can be reassured that there is no clash of values between the sultan and the Independent.”
Seamus Dooley, acting general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, told MEE that he had major misgivings about the purchase.
“The NUJ is in favour of maximum transparency in terms of media ownership, and we know nothing about this group,” he said, referring to the investor.
“Also, there are serious concerns about Saudi and their relationship with the concept of media freedom and the record of anyone from Saudi in terms of human rights is something that would be of concern to us.”