Poland’s TV broadcaster TVN has signed a deal with ITI Media Group to buy a controlling stake in Grupa Onet.pl, the country’s leading Internet portal, for 1.1 billion zlotys (about $358 million). ITI is part of a holding company owned by founders of TVN, who still control the broadcaster after its public market debut in 2004.
TVN will hold 82.35 percent in Grupa Onet.pl, will launch a bid for all the remaining shares at 165 zlotys ($53.61) each.
Onet is the biggest Polish portal with 9.5 million unique users and over 2.3 billion page views per month leading to a 37% online advertising market share, the companies said in the release (PDF link). Onet reported cash revenue of PLN 71 million in 2005 with 78% of revenue coming from advertising services and 22% generated by subscription-based fee revenue.
A full management presentation PDF about the deal is here (in English, PDF link), and includes more details of Grupa Onet’s financials.