Top "Israel Today" executives yesterday visited A. Levin Epstein Ltd., the printing house of Ma'ariv Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MARV-M), which is up for sale. Sources inform ''Globes'' that the freesheet owned by Sheldon Adelson is considering acquiring the printing house, after reviewing options for establishing an independent printer in Israel and other countries in recent weeks.
Haaretz Group currently prints "Israel Today", and its departure will likely reshuffle the deck in Israel print journalism.
In July, Ma'ariv Holdings announced that it would put its printing house up for sale, and outsource the printing of Hebrew daily "Ma'ariv". Ma'ariv, which will use up its NIS 25 million owner's loan this month, must make a deal fast to prevent the closing of the paper before the Jewish New Year next month.
Market sources believe that "Israel Today" pays Haaretz Group tens of millions of shekels a year, basically keeping the "Ha'aretz" newspaper afloat. After the sale of Levin Epstein, all eyes will turn to Ma'ariv controlling shareholder Nochi Dankner to see who will print the paper, and it could be Haaretz.
Rumors are spreading that "Ma'ariv" editor-in-chief Nir Hefetz is a candidate for CEO of Channel 10 News, which is currently run by acting CEO Uri Rosen since the resignation of Raduar Benziman. Notwithstanding the rumors, there are no plans to set up a search committee anytime soon.
Hefetz dismissed the rumors, telling "Globes", "The issue is not on the agenda. "Ma'ariv" faces huge challenges, and all my efforts are directed towards continuing to run this newspaper as editor-in-chief."
Both Ma'ariv Holdings and "Israel Today" declined to comment on the report.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 2, 2012
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