New "Ma'ariv" owner mulls ending print edition

Zaki Rakib is considering converting the daily newspaper into a kind of personalized digital paper.

Hebrew daily "Ma'ariv" may evolve into a high-tech company within a few years. "Globes" has obtained details from the agreement between the new chairman of Ma'ariv Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MARV), Zaki Rakib, and "Ma'ariv" publisher Ofer Nimrodi, which state that the paper's new management is considering ending the newspaper's daily print edition, and converting the paper into a kind of personalized digital paper. The idea is now under development.

The idea is to aimed at each reader individually and customize the digital paper to the reader's preferences, instead of creating a uniform reading template. The "Ma'ariv" weekend edition will continue to be printed.

Sources inform ''Globes'' that Rakib will likely harness large Silicon Valley companies, with which he had working relations for years, to the venture. The idea is to create a joint product with a high-tech company, which will become a model for global journalism. The plan will reportedly affect "Ma'ariv's" staff, which includes people who work for the daily print edition.

The basic assumption underlying the changeover is that a newspaper's daily print edition has lost its power. At the same time, both readers and advertisers are not abandoning the weekend print edition so quickly. The idea is that while the print edition has a problem, it is not with the content or readers' interest in it.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 30, 2010

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010

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