Baugur Group is 70 percent shareholder in a new magazine publishing company that will release its first issue at the beginning of November.
This was revealed on the Kastljós news program yesterday by the magazine’s editor Reynir Traustason, who recently resigned as editor of Mannlíf, one of Iceland’s foremost periodicals, to take on this new project. Speculation has been rife since then as to who the owners of the new magazine are.
Baugur Group owns vast assets in Iceland and abroad. In the 17 years since its inception, it has built up an empire that started with the Bónus low-cost supermarkets and now includes numerous High Street retailers in the United Kingdom and Danish landmark department stores Magasin and Illum.
Baugur is also majority-owner of the 365 media corporation, which publishes Fréttabladid and operates Channel 2 as well as numerous other radio and television stations. In a highly controversial move in 2004, Iceland’s parliament passed a bill limiting media ownership, that many saw as a direct measure against Baugur. Widespread protests ensued, with the result that the bill was vetoed by the President.
