Staff at La Stampa and La Repubblica stopped working for a short time to protest their fate, refusing to print for a day. This outage occurred because Exor entered talks with Antenna Group in the latest crisis for the Italian publishing industry.
Owned by Theodore Kyriakou, Antenna plans to buy GEDI, the publisher of both outlets. The sale values La Repubblica, along with its websites and radio stations, between €120 million and €140 million.
La Stampa faces an unsure future because Antenna expresses interest only in the Rome paper. Reporters call the process hidden, feeling upset because no one tells them if they will keep their jobs.
Cash Problems and Decline
Money issues hurt Italian papers, making a sale the only remaining option as readership declines. Total copies dropped to about 1.6 million by early 2025, while sales at newsstands plummeted to 950,000 in 2024. La Repubblica saw its sales fall to around 206,000.
Since GEDI reported losing €15 million last year, the papers act as a financial weight on Exor. The publishing assets make up only 0.3% of the company’s value, so for owners who make money from cars, keeping papers that lose money feels like a burden.
Staff feel let down by these facts. Reporters at La Stampa described talks with bosses as shameful, while editors called the sale a bad show because they received no promises about money safety.
The Buyer and New Plans
If Theodore Kyriakou buys La Repubblica, it will mark the first time a foreign owner takes a big Italian paper. Having made his money in shipping, he graduated with honours from Georgetown University and now runs Antenna Group. His business operates all over the world, owning TV, radio, and websites.
People worry about where the money comes from because a fund from Saudi Arabia entered Antenna Group in 2022. However, sources in Italy note that the Kyriakou family will buy GEDI alone to keep control, even though the Saudi fund already holds shares in other Italian companies.
Reports in Greece described the deal as a big step in Europe. Kyriakou wants La Repubblica to get into Italy easily, preferring to buy a famous name instead of starting new.
Losing Identity
Splitting the papers costs money because they currently share computer systems, so taking them apart raises worries for La Stampa. History is at risk since La Repubblica started in 1976, founding a new style of hard reporting, while La Stampa goes back to 1867.
La Repubblica is known for questioning the government, just as La Stampa is known for employing many women reporters. Workers fear losing these traits, so staff expressed sadness that the paper is breaking apart. They declared they will fight the sale because the buyer knows nothing about Italian news.
Other reporters offered support, and staff from Il Sole 24 Ore expressed fear that the sale hurts having different news voices.
Politics and Business
Politicians talk but do little, even though the government held meetings. Alberto Barachini urged bosses to keep jobs safe while opponents requested updates in parliament. Senate President Ignazio La Russa offered to help talk, but such moves do not fix the money issues.
President Sergio Mattarella stopped a visit to La Stampa because of the strike. The cancellation showed that papers are businesses that lose money. Ads on the web do not pay as much as print ads, and young people do not read papers.
Although bosses still read, most Italians prefer social apps, forcing papers to try selling only to older people.
The End Result
The sale goes on because the price is right, so staff wants matter only if strikes lower the value. Exor has a simple plan to sell GEDI to stop the loss of money. Kyriakou buys because he sees value others miss.
Real honesty would acknowledge a hard fact: papers live only because rich families paid for them. Now, a group called NEM evaluates buying La Stampa, which breaks the group up more. Business rules now beat history, meaning the future for the papers rests on cold calculations.
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