Mafra (company)

Czech media company

Mafra, a.s.


Company type	Joint-stock
Industry	Publishing, Internet
Founded	December 31, 1992 (1992-12-31)
Headquarters	Prague , Czech Republic
Products	Newspapers, Magazines
Revenue	2,561,074,000 Czech koruna (2020)
Operating income	−978,763,000 Czech koruna (2020)
Net income	−867,755,000 Czech koruna (2020)
Total assets	3,253,659,000 Czech koruna (2020)
Number of employees	1,149 (2020)
Parent	Kaprain Chemical, Cyprus
Website	mafra.cz

Mafra is a Czech media group that publishes printed and internet media, headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. From 2013 to 2023, it was a subsidiary of Agrofert holding conglomerate owned by trust of Andrej Babiš, the former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. Mafra owns some of the most popular media in the Czech Republic, including MF DNES and Lidové noviny newspapers, and the most visited Czech news server iDnes.^[1]^[2] In September 2023, Agrofert sold the group to the Czech billionaire investor Karel Pražák (Kaprain Group). ^[3]

History

Mafra was founded in 1992 in Prague. It was acquired in 1994 by the German group Rheinisch-Bergische Druckerei- und Verlagsgesellschaft GmbH (RBDV)^[4]^[5] (the publisher of the Rheinische Post), which bought Mafra from French press group Socpresse. In 2013, Mafra was acquired by Czech holding group Agrofert, which is owned by Andrej Babiš.^[6]

MAFRA publishes the daily newspaper Mladá fronta DNES (MF Dnes), which, with 224,000 circulation as of March 2011 is the second largest newspaper in the Czech Republic,^[7] after tabloid Blesk. Fully owned subsidiary Lidové noviny, a.s. publishes daily newspaper Lidové noviny with circulation of 44,000,^{[citation needed]} 60% subsidiary Metro Česká republika, a.s. publishes a freesheet Czech edition of Metro with a circulation of 266,000.^[8]

The internet division is, as of February 2011, the third most visited Czech website on the internet, with 3.7 million unique visitors per month.^[9] It includes web portals iDnes.cz and lidovky.cz, most of its websites being under iDnes.cz.

Other assets include two printing works (in Prague and Olomouc) and the TV music channel Óčko.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mafra benefited disproportionately from state aid.^[10]

References

^ "The new Czech media owners". Progetto.
^ "Zpravodajci na českém webu: přehled zpravodajských serverů". Lupa (in Czech).
^ "Agrofert sells Mafra group and other assets". Radio Prague International. 2023-09-01. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
^ "The press in the Czech Republic". BBC News. December 10, 2005. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
^ "MAFRA - 2009 Annual Report". Retrieved 21 October 2017.
^ Francová, Pavla (26 June 2013). "Miliardář Babiš mediálním magnátem. Koupil vydavatele MF Dnes, Lidových novin i Metra". Hospodářské noviny (in Czech). iHNED. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
^ "Periodický tisk". abccr.cz. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
^ "Portfolio Metro". iDNES.cz. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
^ "Návštěvnost internetu v ČR v únoru stagnovala na 7,7 milionu lidí". Finance.cz. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
^ "Czech Republic: Nations in Transit 2021 Country Report". Freedom House. Retrieved 27 December 2021.