Morten Lund takes control over Nyhedsavisen
Private Danish investor Morten Lund has taken control over Danish free paper Nyhedsavisen after buying 51% of the shares from media company Dagsbrun Media, owned by the Icelandic Baugur group.
Lund (1973) was one of the early investors in Skype and invested also in dozens of Internet start-ups. He runs his own blog “It’s all about luck“. The press release about the sale and the official press release by Baugur are also on the blog.
Nyhedsavisen was launched in October 2006. The paper was planning to introduce a home delivery system like their Icelandic free paper Frettabladid used in their home country. Nyhedsavisen had an expensive business plan, not only because of the home delivery but also because it had a Saturday edition and employed far more journalists than the two Danish commuter free dailies Metro and Urban.
Although readership and revenues are both rising, Nyhedsavisen is still losing money. According to Danish paper Berlingske, Dyhedsavisen lost 420m Danish crowns (€56m) in 2007. Both Lund and Dagsbrun will invest in the paper and expect break-even in November 2008. The price of the 51% is said to be only 1 crown.
When news of the launch became public the two leading Danish publishers JP/Politiken and Berlingske both launched their own free dailies 24timer and Dato, also to be distributed directly to the homes. Dat0 was closed down within a year while also all local free dailies disappeared or merged with 24timer in the so-called Danish newspaper war.