beyondbrics

The owners of three of Russia’s most liberal media outlets are attracting attention from an interesting suitor: Mikhail Prokhorov.

The tycoon and New Jersey Nets owner is currently in talks to take a stake in online TV channel TV Dozhd (Rain TV), news website Slon.ru and Moscovites’ beloved alternative newspaper Bolshoi Gorod (Big City). So is Russia’s third richest man becoming a bona fide liberal?

The oligarch is no stranger to media. Onexim Group, his holding, already owns the Russian-language magazine Snob, which caters to wealthy Russian intellectuals scattered everywhere from Moscow to London to New York. Onexim also owns 51 per cent of RBK Group, the media holding that owns business newspaper RBK Daily and RBK TV, the business TV channel.

But talks for the liberal media outlets come at an awkward time for Prokhorov. Last week, Polyus Gold, the gold miner he co-owns a controlling stake in along with Suleiman Kerimov, announced it had been forced to delay a London premium listing after a foreign investment commission headed by Vladimir Putin said it needed more information to approve the company’s relocation to the UK.

The postponement has sent Moscow heads into a tailspin, with some wondering if the delay is tied to Prokhorov’s political activity. (The businessman briefly entered politics this spring as the face and head of the Right Cause, a liberal pro-business party, but was publicly ousted from the group in September after ruffling the feathers of certain Kremlin officials.)

Prokhorov’s interest in Rain TV, Slon.Ru and Big City – all owned by businesswoman Natalya Sindeeva – could be purely commercial. Rain TV reaches almost 285,000 people across the internet and a few scattered cable channels; Slon.ru reaches 668,000; and Big City has a circulation of 150,000.

The businessman is not known for being a big reader. (According to this 2010 New York Times Magazine profile he once told Snob’s former editor, “I don’t read”, at a party thrown for the magazine on his dime.)

Still, it’s interesting to think that Prokhorov has taken a more serious interest in media this time, and will be looking at Rain, Slon and Big City as alternative vehicles to politics.

Dozhd in particular has always had a reputation for taking on more risky subjects, especially compared to the state-run television channels, and it would be worth noting if this will continue to the same extent under Prokhorov.

According to Kommersant, Onexim is looking to take a controlling stake in the media assets, while Sindeeva – the current owner – could become head of the Onexim media subsidiary that owns Snob.

Related reading:
Onexim may buy TV channel Dozhd, Kommersant
Prokhorov revealed, FT
Putin-led body delays Polyus London listing, FT
The NBA oligarch and his power games, New York Times