Page 17 - Newspaper of the Future Case Study

Sale of the i

On the 12 February 2016 it was announced that
The Independent and the Independent on
Sunday newspapers were to close. The Independent, a
30-year-old paper, would become a digital-only product.

The cut-price national daily newspaper - the i - part of
the group that published The Independent and owned by
the Lebedevs, was a national print product, with little
digital revenue and was sold to JP for £24 million. This
was an interesting development in that JP was in weak
financial shape, with over £200m of debt prior to the
purchase. However, if the i could be integrated, it could
strengthen JPR’s national sell to advertisers as the Independent's current paid
circulation was just over 40,000 while its Sunday sister title sold just under
43,000 copies but by contrast the i, had a circulation of 275,000 and
reported profits of £5.2 million last year. JP on the other hand was the UK's
fourth largest print publisher with more than 250 titles and in excess of
600,000 paid copies a day.

Johnston Press management are experts at taking costs out of a business, from
2009 to 2014, JP total revenues (including the impact of closures and
disposals) fell by around £158m but total operating costs fell by about £144m
meaning that over 90% of the revenue reduction was offset by a reduction in
costs.

The i's in-house editorial team was expected to expand from 17 to 51. In line
with this there was likely to be a £850,000-a-year deal struck with the
Independent and Evening Standard to buy content from their websites.

Content will also come from Press Association and Johnston Press regional
titles such as The Scotsman and Yorkshire Post.