Sources inform ''Globes'' that Hebrew daily "Ma'ariv" is putting the A. Levin Epstein Ltd. printing house and its land up for sale. The newspaper will be printed by another newspaper's printing house. The daily print edition of "Ma'ariv" will gradually disappear and the newspaper will appear only in digital form. The Friday edition, however, will be expanded and continue to appear in print.
Two weeks ago, "Globes" reported that Ma'ariv Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MARV-M) had decided to slash the operations of its Levin Epstein printing house. Sources said the printing house, which specializes in chromo printing, had decided to stop accepted additional outside work on top of its current operations. An inquiry by "Globes" found that the reason for the move was streamlining ahead of a possible sale of the printing house.
In a notice to the TASE today, Ma'ariv Holdings said, "The board of directors of the company yesterday instructed the company's management to conduct a comprehensive review to prepare a business plan on the basis of collaborations and synergies with other papers (subject to approval by the Israel Antitrust Authority), and the development and substantial strengthening of the digital version of the paper, while reducing the scale of the print version's activity."
Ma'ariv Holdings added that it was continuing to streamline, including greatly reducing the workforce at various company units, and "the termination of commercial printing (flat printing), which is unrelated to the activity of the daily paper, which is carried out by A. Levin Epstein Ltd."
Ma'ariv Holdings said that its board of directors also instructed management to review the sale of the land on which the printing house is located. The board approved the drawing down of NIS 15 million, in addition to the NIS 10 million already drawn, of the NIS 25 million loan from its parent company, Discount Investment Corporation (TASE: DISI).
On Wednesday, Ma'ariv and the Association of Israel Journalists will meet in the Labor Court for a hearing on the injunction against the firing of scores of the newspaper's employees until negotiations take place between Ma'ariv's workers committee (the employees recently unionized under the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel)), and management.
"Ma'ariv" was founded in 1948, the year of Israel's independence, by a group of journalists who left "Yediot Ahronot", which now dominates circulation of Israeli daily newspapers alongside freesheet "Israel Today", owned by US billionaire Sheldon Adelson.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 16, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012