There are four newspaper groups in South Africa: Independent Newspapers, Johnnic Communications, Naspers and CTP/Caxton. The country's newspapers are based mainly on separate control of the editorial and management departments.
Independent Newspapers
Independent Media, owned by Irish tycoon Tony O'Reilly, first acquired a stake in local newspapers in 1995 when it took control of Argus Newspapers in the 1990s and renamed it Independent Newspapers.
Argus, then owned by Johannesburg Consolidated Investments through Anglo American, was South Africa's major newspaper group. By 1990, it was selling more than 50% of all daily newspapers in the country.
Independent Newspapers is a wholly owned subsidiary of Independent News and Media (South Africa) Limited. It publishes 14 daily and weekly newspapers in the country's three major metropolitan areas.
The Star is the group's flagship daily newspaper. Other dailies are the Cape Argus, the premier isiZulu newspaper Isolezwe, Daily News, Cape Times, the Mercury, Pretoria News, the Diamond Fields Advertiser, Business Report and Daily Voice. Independent's Sunday newspapers are the Sunday Tribune, Independent on Sunday and Sunday Independent, with the Post published on Wednesdays and Fridays.
The group enjoys aggregate weekly sales of 2.8-million copies, reaches about 63% of English newspaper readers, and receives about 48% of total advertising spend in the paid newspaper market.
Independent's broadsheet dailies carry various supplements and substantial advertising. The company also publishes 13 free weekly community newspapers in Cape Town, and holds a number of profitable commercial printing and distribution contracts in all areas.
Johnnic Communications
Formerly known as Times Media Limited (TML), Johnnic Communications is owned by a coalition of black business groups and trade unions, the National Empowerment Consortium. The consortium bought TML from Anglo American's Omni Media Corporation in 1996.
The National Empowerment Consortium's takeover of Johnnic coincided with the establishment of a joint venture between British group Pearson's and TML, under which the former acquired half of TML's Business Day and Financial Mail. Pearson's and TML subsequently set up the Internet publishing operation I-Net Bridge.
Johnnic also publishes the Sunday Times, South Africa's biggest Sunday newspaper, as well as the Sowetan, Business Day, Sunday World, Daily Dispatch, the Herald, Weekend Post, Algoa Sun, Ilizwi and Our Times.
The group also owns music publishing company Gallo Music, movie distributor Nu Metro, the Exclusive Books chain of bookshops, and Struik, New Holland and Map Studio publishers.
Naspers
Nasionale Media, commonly referred to as Naspers, is a multinational media group with its principal operations in print media - newspapers, magazines, printing, book publishing and private education - and electronic media such as pay television and internet service provision. Formed in 1915, Naspers' first newspaper, Die Burger, was the official mouthpiece of the National Party in the Cape.
Print media comprises two segments: Media24, and book publishing and private education. Media24 is the largest publisher of magazines, one of the largest publishers of newspapers and the largest printer and distributor of magazines and related products in Africa.
Media24's newspaper division publishes five national dailies: Daily Sun, Die Burger, Beeld, Volksblad and the Natal Witness. Daily Sun is the largest daily newspaper in South Africa. On Sundays, the company publishes Rapport, City Press and Sunday Sun, printed in four cities and distributed nationally. It also has two weekly publications, Soccer-Laduma and Son, and English and Afrikaans community newspapers in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Free State, Northern Cape, Vaal Triangle and North West.
Media24 Magazines controls more than 60% of the country's magazine circulation, with 40 titles.
Listed financial services company Sanlam was the major shareholder in Naspers, with about 16.5% of the shares, until 2000. The company is now effectively controlled by the directors: Standard Bank Nominees Ltd hold 18%, Nedcor Bank Nominees Ltd have 15.2%, and CMB Nominees Ltd have 16.4%.
CTP/Caxton
Caxton and CTP Publishers and Printers is 38% owned by Johnnic Communications. The group publishes the Citizen daily, which has a circulation of about 91 000. The newspaper division stables 88 free and sold Caxton owned or co-owned titles, as well as 30 regional and community newspapers. The magazine division publishes 15 titles, including Farmer's Weekly, the oldest magazine in South Africa.
CTP is involved in various fields of the publishing and printing business: newspapers, magazines, commercial print, book printing, stationery, packaging and labels, as well as manufacturing ink for web presses.
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Published for Brand South Africa by Big Media Publishers