nova.rs
The Nova.rs portal was launched in February 2020 and promoted as a “professional, responsible portal with an attitude” and a “professional approach to current topics”. It is characterised by an extensive production of texts on a variety of topics, including politics, society, economy, chronicles, entertainment, culture and sports. The portal is criticised by the authorities, and representatives of institutions and parties in power which often insult this media outlet or put pressure on their employees. Tabloid, clickbait texts and titles distinguish the portal. The Press Council has issued several public warnings to this portal on the violations of the code.
Audience Share
9.85%
Ownership Type
Private
Geographic Coverage
International
Content Type
Free
Media Companies / Groups
United Group
Ownership Structure
The publisher of the newspaper Nova is the company United Media Digital, which is owned by the company of the same name - United Media from Luxembourg. The owner of this company is Slovenia Broadband from Luxembourg, which is further owned by United Group from the Netherlands. United Group is owned by a number of Dutch companies: the direct owner is Adria Midco, owned by Adria Topco, which is further owned by Summer BidCo. The owner of this company is Summer MidCo, and the owner of this company is Summer Parent from Luxembourg.
Three companies have a stake in this company: 55.37% Luxembourg Summer Invest, 28.20% Gerrard Enterprises from the Isle of Man and 8.05% Gerrard MIP from the Cayman Islands. Dragan Solak has a 99% share in the Isle of Man company and a significant share in the Cayman Islands company.
The majority owner with a 78.65% stake in the company Summer Invest BC European Capital X LP Fund from the British island of Guernsey. No person has a 10% or more stake in the BC European Capital X Fund.
According to the APR, Dragan Šolak is listed as the beneficial owner of United Media Digital with 35.89% ownership.
Individual Owner
General Information
Founding Year
2020
Affiliated Interests Founder
The company United Media Digital, which is the publisher of the Nova portal, was founded by the company United Media from Luxembourg. Both firms are part of the United Group. Since 2014, the CEO of United Media in Luxembourg has been Aleksandra Subotic. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of this company. In this position, she has been in charge of implementing the group's strategies and goals since 2013. Previously, she performed the duties of the general manager of the company for the development of satellite and cable networks in Serbia, which has been one of the key strategic partners of the Group since 2002.
United Group was created in 2007 by the merger of SBB and Telemach from Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to APR data, SBB was founded in September 2000. The website of this group states that the founder of the group and president of the advisory board of the company is Dragan Solak. In 2013, a senior advisor to the Board of Directors of the SBB-Telemach Group was a former US ambassador to Serbia, Cameron Munter. The following year, the majority owner of the United Group became KKR, the world's leading investment fund based in New York and with a capital of $131.1 billion, which invested in the group together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). After this investment, the group continued to expand, acquiring Grand Production in Serbia (a production company of turbo folk music), the telecommunications operator Telemach Montenegro 2014, the third largest mobile operator in Slovenia Tusmobil in April 2015, as well as five smaller cable operators in BiH and the majority share of the cable television operator in Bosnia and Herzegovina BHB Cable TV in July 2015. Their cable television station, N1, which is a subsidiary of CNN in the Balkans, started broadcasting in Serbia in October 2014.
In March 2019, KKR sold the majority share of United Group to a leading international investment company, BC Partners. At that time, it was announced that the former majority owner, KKR, as well as the management team of the United Group, would "retain a significant minority share", but it is not known the shares controlled by KKR and the management team at the time, as well as the share of Dragan Solak. The data submitted to the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media in Serbia show the complex structure of group ownership. United Group is owned by a number of Dutch companies: the direct owner is Adria Midco, owned by Adria Topco, which is further owned by Summer BidCo. The owner of this company is Summer MidCo, and the owner of this company is Summer Parent from Luxembourg.
Three companies have a stake in this company: 55.37% Luxembourg Summer Invest, 28.20% Gerrard Enterprises from the Isle of Man and 8.05% Gerrard MIP from the Cayman Islands. Dragan Solak has a 99% share in the Isle of Man company and a significant share in the Cayman Islands company.
The majority owner with a 78.65% stake in the company Summer Invest BC European Capital X LP Fund from the British island of Guernsey. No person has a 10% or more stake in the BC European Capital X Fund.
Today, United Group owns dozens of companies and branches in Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece and the Netherlands. The portfolio of this form includes, among other things, numerous television stations, film and TV production, the Internet, fixed and mobile telephony, cable operators, DTH and OTT platforms, the United.cloud software centre, marketing companies and online commerce companies.
According to the Serbian Business Registers Agency, Dragan Solak has about 35% share in many companies operating within the United Group. In 2022, Sholak became the leading investor in Sport Republic, a London-based investment firm in the sports and entertainment industry, and in January 2022, Sport Republic bought the football club from the UK Premier League, Southampton FC, followed by the purchase of Goztepe in Turkey in August 2022. According to the Serbian Business Registers Agency, Dragan Šolak has about 35% share in many companies operating within the United Group, so he is the co-owner of dozens of companies in Serbia: SBB, Direct media, D express, United cloud, Grand production, Shoppster, Cas Media, United media production, United group RS, Adria news, Mainstream, Media point, Direct media communications, United media digital, Dan Graf, Mainstream public cloud services, City media, Dansav plaza, Holdco Adria, Netlogic, Techhill plaza, United group network infrastructure, Big print, Fortuna e-sports, Fusion communications, Ali invest, Brainz, Panelcatv, Flamactis, Grand slam group, Hiša plus, TV channel Ultra Beograd (in liquidation), N1 television, Nova S television.
The most successful of these companies during 2022 was SBB, with about EUR 252 million in turnover and almost EUR 35 million in profit. Direct media ranked second in terms of profit with EUR 1.9 million.
Affiliated Interests Ceo
The director since July and the editor-in-chief of portal nova.rs since June 2022. He came to the position of editor-in-chief from the position of executive editor of the website.
Jovićević started working for Nova in mid-2020 as a deputy editor on the political section. Previously, he worked for Ringier for eight years as a journalist, deputy editor and editor of the home page of Blic.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
The director since July and the editor-in-chief of portal nova.rs since June 2022. He came to the position of editor-in-chief from the position of executive editor of the website.
Jovićević started working for Nova in mid-2020 as a deputy editor on the political section. Previously, he worked for Ringier for eight years as a journalist, deputy editor and editor of the home page of Blic.
Affiliated Interests other important people
The director of United Media Digital from its inception until his death in 2022. Simonovic was also the editor-in-chief of nova.rs.
The deputy editor-in-chief of nova.rs portal since the beginning of the portal's operation. Previously, he was a video production editor at Adria Media Group and editor-in-chief of Kurir. Femić worked in the weekly Newsweek and Novi magazine, as well as the daily Danas.
The director for the development of the Nova.rs portal. During 2020, she was the site's executive editor. Before joining United Media Digital, she worked for Ringier for 16 years as an editor and journalist for Blic.
The head of the board at nova.rs since September 2020. Previously, he was the editor-in-chief of the website espreso.rs, which operates within the Adria Media Group.
Contact
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
Missing data
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
Missing data
Advertising (in % of total funding)
Missing data
Market Share
Missing data
Further Information
Meta Data
Missing data on market share and advertising revenue. Financial data is available only for the company that publishes the media, but not for the media itself. The ownership structure of the end owner B.C. Partners is unknown.
United Media Digital, the publisher of the Nova newspaper, also publishes the Nova website, as well as the Zadovoljna portal, so it is not possible to determine the financial condition of individual media operating under this company.
