Alon group set to leave "Israel Post" partnership

Israel Post
Israel Post

The "Israel Post" had the third largest newspaper circulation in Israel in 2014.

Alon Israel Oil Company Ltd. is preparing to exit its partnership in the "Israel Post" newspaper, which is distributed free of charge. Sources inform "Globes" that the proposals made by the group to its partner in the newspaper, the "Jerusalem Post" group, include final abandonment of the partnership within three months, during which the Jerusalem Post will decide whether to take over the paper by itself or to bring in another partner. Because of the financial crisis in Alon Israel Oil's retail business, the quantity of advertising in the paper by the group's brands has recently dropped off dramatically, amounting to only a few pages a day.

According to informed sources, the two parties have been holding friendly discussions in recent week about the newspaper's future. Even if the Alon group leaves the partnership, this does not mean that the "Israel Post" will close down.

"Israel Post" was founded eight years ago under the name "Metro Israel." It is owned in an equal partnership by Eli Azur's Jerusalem Post group, which also owns the English-language journalism brand having the same name and the "Maariv" brand, from which the  paper takes most of its content. Thanks to the partnership, the newspaper's main distribution base is in the Alon group's marketing chains, including Mega, AM/PM, and Dor Alon Energy in Israel (1988) Ltd. (TASE:DRAL) filling stations. Its circulation reaches 200,000 copies according to market sources.

The newspaper brought about a revolution in the Israeli newspaper market last year, after a survey by TGI for measuring public exposure found that the "Israel Post" had the third largest exposure in Israel, ahead of "Haaretz." As a result, then-Minister of the Interior Gideon Sa'ar transferred government advertising budgets to the newspaper, after putting it on the list of newspapers with the highest distribution in Israel. The "Israel Post" maintained its third place in circulation in Israel in 2014 with an 8.3% annual exposure rate, behind "Israel Hayom" and "Yediot Ahronot."

Neither the Alon group nor the "Jerusalem Post" responded to the report.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 30, 2015

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015

Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018