Final Word from Tuesday, May 10, 2005
PPF completed the sale of TV Nova to CME last week and is losing an effective tool for lobbying politicians. CEO Petr Dvořák of Nova will stay in place for a year or so, to assure a smooth transition, but CME will inevitably have its own agenda once it gets settled. It was perhaps more aggressive in the mid-1990s at using Nova for political gain than PPF has been. Petr Kellner is getting a high price for Nova and, as MFD pointed out yesterday in one of its frequent promotional pieces for him, he's in the enviable position of having to find something to do with all that money. PPF is moving its non-EU activities out of the CR (who needs all that regulation?) and is selling some of its remaining local businesses, but it could still use a more-effective tool than Euro magazine for influencing political events. Our bet is that it'll look at entering the daily newspaper market. [Czech Republic Central European Media Enterprises Mafra MF Dnes]