John de Mol’s Talpa Network will acquire Dutch news agency Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau from V-Ventures, the investment arm of the media holding group Vereniging Veronica. No financial details were disclosed.
According to local press reports, De Mol wants to bring more news to Talpa’s portfolio of SBS chnanels, which includes SBS6, Net 5, and Veronica, as well as a number of radio stations including Sky Radio and Radio 538. At the moment, RTL is the only private broadcaster that has regular news broadcasts on its channels RTL5 and RTL Z.
“Talpa Network is becoming the large, modern cross-media company on the Dutch market. With the acquisition of ANP we are adding another important link. And ANP is the strongest brand when it comes to speed and accuracy,” De Mol said.
John de Mol guarantees not to interfere with the journalistic content of the ANP. “There is an editorial statute that guarantees editorial independence. We will fully respect that.”
According to ANP CEO Martijn Bennis and editor-in-chief Marcel van Lingen, the position of ANP is well secured. “The editorial statute is not up for discussion. Our news service will remain fast, factual and independent.”
Talpa Network is the company in which De Mol has transferred all of its media activities. Besides John de Mol, who as majority shareholder owns 80% of the company, Rabo Participaties owns a 20% stake in the media company.
ANP was started in 1934 by a number of daily newspapers which owned the news service before selling it to NPM Capital in 2003. In 2010 ANP was acquired by Veronica.
