The first editions of the i newspaper under its new Johnston Press ownership rolled off the presses last night.
The publisher of 228 local and regional titles has hailed the “transformational” aquisition of the cut-price national daily, bought for £24m from Evgeny Lebedev’s Independent Print Limited.
The deal, originally announced on 12 February, was formally completed last night.
JP chief executive Ashley Highfield is pictured below with the inaugural edition under the company’s ownership.
Said Ashley: “This is a transformational acquisition for Johnston Press and an important step towards delivering our long-term strategy.
“i is a highly regarded newspaper with a clear market position and a loyal readership. By joining with Johnston Press the combined circulation will be equal to 9pc of national daily circulation, making us the fourth largest player in the market.
“This enhanced reach represents a significant growth opportunity for Johnston Press in terms of national print and advertising revenue. It also rebalances our revenues towards less volatile circulation revenues.
“With our considerable digital experience the combination of Johnston Press and i will also allow us to grow digital audiences and revenues through the creation of inews.co.uk.”
The i’s editor Oly Duff last week announced Felicity Morse as editor of its new companion website inews.co.uk.
Added Ashley: “We have a great new team in place at i under the editorial leadership of Oly Duff and look forward to working with them as we deliver the next phase of Johnston Press’ strategy.”
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A new one on me. Mr Highfield pictured holding a newspaper, with no sign of any digi gear in sight. Some mistake, surely?
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I bet “transformational” will be the right word for many of the staff as Ashley goes about “delivering his long-term strategy”. Still, the bits about “growing digital revenues” and “delivering (he loves that word; should have been a postman) the next phase of the strategy” are encouraging and, you never know, JP may just have come off the slip road of oblivion and onto the motorway of success. Put your foot down, Ash.
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Blimey. A Kafka-like metamorphosis into a lover of newspapers. Bit too late to get the JP beetle up off its back perhaps judging by worrying share price.
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It’s like climbing into a taxi and finding out the driver is the Grim Reaper.
This will be the i newspaper’s final journey.
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As someone who got the first comment in before Mr Minim, I claim my £10.
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Damn you echo and your bunnymen! Invoice me at the usual content harvesting and community copy curation intersection. (PS Do you take Barings Bank cheques?)
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Share price is still 0.8p in old money. Investors are not impressed with this purchase. I still don’t understand how a business which is only worth £43m and owes £180m can cobble together £24m to buy a national paper (with no website).
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Soon – the final shutdown!
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They’ll knacker it. Everything JP touch turns into tshi.
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Has the penny finally dropped for Ashley?! DIGITAL DONT PAY!!!
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