Il Sole 24 ORE - Italia News agreement in effect

Milan, 23 May 2008 - Il Sole 24 ORE SpA becomes partner as of today in Italia News Srl via a capital increase and allocation of the same stake as the founding partners MonrifNET, Editrice Il Tempo, SEP (Il Secolo XIX newspaper), and Unione Editoriale SpA (Unione Sarda newspaper)

 

Il Sole 24 ORE SpA, whose BoD gave the go-ahead for the deal on 15 May, will be represented on the Board of Directors of Italia News, by Fabio Vaccarono, general manager of the Group’s advertising sales agency. He will thus join the representatives of the other partners, i.e. Franco Capparelli, managing director of SEP and president of Italian News, Federico Marturano, managing director of the Italia News company as well as of MonrifNET, Carlo Ignazio Fantola, managing director of the Unione Editoriale, and Carlo Angeletti, managing director of Editrice Il Tempo.

 

With this move, Italia News, born as an aggregation on the web of regional and national news sites, further strengthens its base and prepares for the launch, scheduled to take place in June, of the eponymous online syndication – the first ever Italian national one of its type – which will already have 5 million monthly unique visitors upon its creation.

 

The syndication’s advertising sales – commissioned to WebSystem, the digital division of the advertising sales agency of Il Sole 24 ORE SpA, headed by Luca Paglicci, will be able to boast the first, and exclusive, Italian “glocal” news project, reinforcing the advertising sales agency’s market position, particularly in the news area.