Schibsted Flourishes Online
May 4, 2009 by Emma Sorensen
Norwegian media giant Schibsted has reported that classifieds and directories are its fastest growing channel and have great international online growth opportunities.
Schibsted released its 2008 Annual Report last week.
The company has also reported strong revenue growth from online activities, and continued investment in establishing footholds in new markets.
The director’s report focused on key highlights, including the overwhelming success of the company’s online holdings:
“The Group’s online activities are becoming increasingly important to the financial results of the Group. For 2008, online activities were responsible for 81 percent of the Group’s operating profit. These activities have become responsible for a greater proportion of profit due to falling profitability for print products.”
Despite the good news for Schibsted’s online businesses, the general news is not all rosy. President and CEO Kjell Aamot introduced the results by saying:
“We are in the worst downturn that our company has ever experienced. 2008 was the year when everything suddenly took a turn for the worse. Nevertheless, our diverse portfolio and well-established new media businesses mean that we are in a better position than many other companies. I think that the recovery will be great for Schibsted.”
For 2008 the company had operating revenues of NOK 13,740 million, and EBITDA of NOK 1,442 million. Norway accounted for 43 percent of the operating revenues, followed by Sweden with 38 percent, and the company’s international businesses made up 19 percent.
Classifieds and directories accounted for the largest percentage of operating profit (EBITA), followed by printed newspapers, then online newspapers, and live pictures.
Schibsted currently has 8,100 employees and companies in 22 countries. The company’s online classifieds businesses include:
- finn.no – Norway’s sixth-largest website measured by the number of unique visitors
- blocket.se – general Swedish marketplace
- jobb24.se – Swedish job website ranked number four
- fotocasa.es – one of the leading real estate portals in Spain
- infojobs.net – one of the top Spanish and Italian job search websites
Related posts:
- Cutbacks Pay Off for Schibsted in Q3 Schibsted, the Norwegian media company behind the Spanish infojobs.net, Italian infojobs.it and Swedish jobb24.se, as well as a number of other classifieds websites, has released its financial results for the third quarter of 2009. The company’s operating profit jumped 52...
- Schibsted Increases Stake in infojobs.net, infojobs.it Norwegian media giant Schibsted has bought out Spanish partner Primerama’s share of infojobs.net. The deal also sees Schibsted take control of Italian sister portal infojobs.it....
- Schibsted’s Recovery Continues Norwegian media company Schibsted, which is behind the Spanish infojobs.net, Italian infojobs.it and Swedish jobb24.se, has reported increases in revenue and profits in the fourth quarter of 2009. After an improved third quarter, the company's pretax profit reached NOK 168...
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[...] media, mobile phones, books and magazines. Its turnover in 2008 was NOK 13.7 billion, and its 2008 annual report said its classifieds and directories were its fastest growing [...]