MVP TO SEIZE CONTROL OVER BUSINESS WORLD!

MANILA - The majority owner of the country's first business newspaper is ceding control to the PLDT group, sources told InterAksyon.com.

In a meeting last Tuesday, the cooperative of BusinessWorld decided to issue new shares to MediaQuest Holdings, which already has a 30 percent stake in the newspaper, the sources said.

Acquiring majority ownership of the newspaper, which has not been making money, has been MediaQuest's intention, the same sources said.

Sought for comment, MediaQuest, which holds the media assets of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co, declined to issue a statement on the matter.

For years, MediaQuest faced a roadblock in the form of BusinessWorld's Provident Fund, which owns 70 percent of the newspaper. A single "no-vote" from any of the fund's members would prevent any third party from acquiring its stake in the newspaper.

Earlier, the PLDT board approved a P750 million investment in its media assets to allow the group to become a multimedia service company.

Prior to that, the country's biggest telecom company said it was investing an additional P3.6 billion to make "its media assets more visible to the shareholders of PLDT."

Aside from its 30-percent stake in BusinessWorld, the PLDT Group also owns 20 percent of Philippine Star and 18 percent of Philippine Daily Inquirer.

"The two major broadsheets are making money. BusinessWorld tends to be similar to a patient on a hospital; sometimes they made money, sometimes they don't make money," Manuel V. Pangilinan, PLDT chairman, said earlier.

That said, Pangilinan believes there is still growth in the print industry.

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