Adria Media Group

Adria Media Group (AMG) is the biggest media group in the Balkans. It was founded in 2014 and has been owned by Igor Žeželj since 28th December 2018. Before Žeželj, the owner of AMG was the businessman Aleksandar Rodić.

The Group is made up of six companies: Adria Media Grupa Beograd (the main company) and five legally connected companies - Adria Media Balkan, Adria Media Zagreb, Adria Media Magazine doo, Adria Media Invest doo and Admatic media doo.

Since October 2016 the new publishing company Adria Media Balkan from North Macedonia has become part of this grouping. Adria Media Balkan was founded when AMG bought a majority stake in the daily newspaper Sloboden Pečat, the daily with the biggest circulation in North Macedonia. Sloboden Pečat is a daily newspaper and the market leader, actively playing a role in the shaping of public opinion in North Macedonia over the last few years. Adria Media Zagreb, a so-called content factory, has positioned itself as a market leader in the magazine segment in Croatia.

The Group is primarily engaged in publishing and is a regional leader in the media industry. Based on the information on its website, AMG has 620 employees, its multimedia portfolio includes 45 printed editions, 26 digital and 34 YouTube channels. AMG is a member of the following Serbian and international organizations: Wan Ifra (World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers), Asocijacija Medija Srbije and Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB Serbia). According to Google Analytics, AMG has around 34 million unique visits and 987 million page views per month. The Group has 2.8 million fans on the official profiles of its publications on Facebook.

Aleksandar Rodić spent a long time looking for a new business partner, who would provide the company with more stability, after it found itself in serious financial problems following the open conflict with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. The bank accounts of AMG were blocked for months, preventing its normal functioning. The negotiations over the sale of AMG lasted almost two years.
The framework agreement regarding the sale of AMG was signed on 1st October 2018. At the time, AMG reached an agreement regarding a strategic partnership with Wireless Media, owned by Igor Žeželj and the website Mondo, which was owned by Telekom Srbija. In this way, the state once again indirectly became a media owner, despite its obligation to end its ownership in the media sector.

Mondo Inc officially became the 100% owner of AMG on 28th December 2018, with the decision on the change in ownership being published on 4th January 2019 on the website of the Serbian Business Registers Agency (APR). Instead of Rodić, the new owners are listed as Žeželj and Mondo Inc. The public does not know the value of this sale, as none of the contracts relating to the sale were published.

The links between Igor Žeželj, the website Mondo and Telekom Srbija have generated suspicions that the state, via Telekom Srbija, has entered into the ownership structure of AMG, following the acquisition of cable operators Kopernikus, Radijus Vektor and AVcom. This has been unofficially denied to BIRN by senior Telekom Srbija officials.