The sale of the Turin each day newspaper “La Stampa”, which has been deliberate for months, has been accomplished. According to constant press reviews, the media holding GEDI from the sphere of affect of the Agnelli industrial household concluded a preliminary settlement on Wednesday to promote the newspaper, based in 1867, to the SAE consortium primarily based in Sassari on Sardinia. The holding firm, run by Agnelli inheritor John Elkann, has not but discovered a purchaser for the each day newspaper “La Repubblica”, which can also be a part of GEDI and is revealed in Rome. According to media reviews, negotiations over the sale of the “Repubblica” between GEDI and a Greek transport and media conglomerate with Saudi affect are ongoing.
The sale of “Stampa” to the SAE consortium led by the media entrepreneur Alberto Leonardis was additionally preceded by months of negotiations. In addition to the printed each day newspaper, which was not initially revealed on Thursday, it consists of all related dietary supplements and ancillary publications, the digital actions, the press heart in Turin and the distribution community for native ads. The takeover will happen through a newly based firm beneath the management of the SAE Group, whose acronym stands for “Sapere Aude Editore”. Companies with roots within the Piedmont area and traders from different areas of northwestern Italy will probably be concerned within the group.
“Sustainable and long-term editorial concept”
A joint assertion from the customer and vendor mentioned: “The experience of the SAE Group, operating throughout Italy in the field of information and communication services, provides a solid basis for the realization of a sustainable and long-term editorial project. The aim of this project is to ensure the continuity of the newspaper’s traditional direction, preserve its editorial independence and ensure its close ties with the region. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026. The sale is subject to the usual trade union agreements and antitrust proceedings.”
The CEO of SAE is Alberto Leonardis, a manager born in 1965 in L’Aquila in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, who began his career in the temporary employment and telecommunications industry and has only been working in the publishing and newspaper business for around five years. Leonoardis bought up various regional newspapers, several of which he sold again after a short time. He recently took over several regional newspapers from GEDI, from Sardinia to the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Some newspapers gained in profile, others remained colorless. A price of 22 million euros is said to have been agreed for the purchase of “Stampa”, the first daily newspaper with a national profile by SAE. The transaction is expected to be completed by around June. SAE’s loan negotiations with banks initially failed, but Leonardis later managed to get regional investors on board.
The new proprietor describes himself as a “libertarian socialist”
The entrepreneur has on occasion described himself as a “libertarian socialist,” which is difficult to reconcile with the economically liberal line of the Turin newspaper. Following the announcement of the pre-sale agreement, the Italian Association of Journalists demanded that SAE “demonstrate its willingness and solvency to continue paying salaries and securing jobs for journalists and publishing staff”. The Christian Democratic regional president Alberto Cirio said that in Piedmont they would “closely monitor” the sale of the traditional newspaper and the following developments. Turin’s Social Democrat mayor Stefano Lo Russo said he was “maintaining a tally of the marketing strategy and the employment scenario” at La Stampa.
The newspaper line of “Stampa”, whose history was linked for decades to the founder and long-time boss of the Fiat Group Giovanni Agnelli (1921 to 2003), has been liberal and business-friendly for years. The view of the Turin paper was always Piedmontese and cosmopolitan at the same time, shaped by the cosmopolitan spirit in the former heart of the Italian automobile industry. Under the aegis of Agnelli’s grandson John Elkann at the helm of GEDI, this historic “family bond” is now coming to an end. According to reports, the lengthy negotiations regarding the sale of “Repubblica” between GEDI and the Greek-Saudi Kyriakou Group are also in the final phase. GEDI and Elkann had apparently not succeeded in finding domestic buyers for the loss-making left-wing daily newspaper in addition to the Greeks. Apparently Kyriakou was able to get his way with the demand to acquire several profitable radio stations from GEDI in addition to “Repubblica”. The editors of “La Stampa” and “La Repubblica” went on strike several times during the negotiations because they felt GEDI had inadequately informed them about the sales talks.
A statement from the editorial committee of “Repubblica” states that with the sale of the numerous local newspapers in recent years and now “Stampa”, the history of the GEDI media holding company is coming to an end. “All that is lacking are the “Repubblica”, the “Huffington Post” and the radio stations Deejay, Capital, m2o,” write the editors: “It was an extended and devastating massacre for everybody who was or nonetheless is unfortunate sufficient to have joined a publishing mission that was pursued in a totally economically unprofitable manner from begin to end. And one which clearly pursued targets aside from publishing ones.” The sale negotiations of “Stampa”, a “newspaper that has been owned by the Agnelli family for over a century”, came about “in the dark” for the editorial workforce and the general public – with none job assure and with out certainty about editorial independence,” the assertion mentioned. This destiny additionally threatens the “Repubblica”.
https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien-und-film/medienpolitik/italienische-la-stampa-wird-verkauft-110848319.html