Boris Lozhkin, one of Ukraine’s best-groomed businessmen, is so attentive and soft-spoken that it’s hard to see a tough and calculating media tycoon in him.
Nevertheless, the 39-year-old owner of United Media Holding, is just such a tycoon.
His empire includes 50 media brands. Among them: Telenedelya, the popular television guide; the Ukrainian versions of two Russian dailies, Komsomolskaya Pravda and Argumenty i Fakty; Focus and Money magazines; and eight radio stations. In 2010, the holding revenue of $113.7 million had a net profit of $4.15 million.
A crowning acquisition is proprietorship of Forbes in Ukraine, which launched in March with billionaire Viktor Pinchuk on the cover. The first print run of 30,000 copies sold out quickly, leading to a second run of 5,000 copies.
Also recently, Lozhkin teamed up with Ukraine’s chocolate king, Petro Poroshenko, to acquire the popular news magazine Korrespondent, news website Korrespondent.net and internet portal Bigmir.net, reportedly for up to $18 million in the sale of KP Media by its American owner, Jed Sunden.
Lozhkin is noticeably proud of his achievements. An electronic display in his office notes that “the combined revenue from one issue of Focus and Forbes can buy two hamburgers for every dweller of Simferopol” and that “Boris Lozhkin is 18 centimeters taller than [media tycoon] Rupert Murdoch.
Despite the comparison with Murdoch, Lozhkin shows the traits of a controlling Ukrainian businessman.
Lozhkin spoke with the Kyiv Post about his expanding media empire, his editorial policy with Korrespondent magazine, the future of Focus magazine and the prospects for financial success with Forbes.
KP: Recently you and Petro Poroshenko bought Korrespondent magazine. How many shares do each of you have?
BL: We don’t make this information public.
KP: What will you be responsible for and what will be Poroshenko’s responsibility?
BL: Petro and I are traditionally responsible for management and financial results of all our joined projects [including radio stations Nashe Radio, NRJ è Retro FM].
KP: Why does Poroshenko need Korrespondent? Maybe he has some presidential ambitions and he needs a political platform for the presidential elections in 2015?
BL: I don’t think that Korrespondent can serve as a political platform for any buyer. Journalistic traditions of Korrespondent will not allow any owner, in my opinion, to use the magazine as a political platform. Any attempt to use it as a political platform will lead to a drastic loss of the market position of this publication.
KP: Coming back to Poroshenko, does he have presidential ambitions?
BL: I have never discussed this topic with him.
KP: Do you have any political ambitions?
BL: No.
KP: What is the area of your ambitions?
BL: Media.
KP: Focus is unprofitable. Now you have two competing news weeklies: Focus and Korrespondent. How will they get along with each other on the market and will this lead to closing Focus?
BL: Focus is already an operationally profitable magazine in certain months. Secondly, this is a good question for us. We are working on differentiating positions of Focus and Korrespondent now. There is no final answer to this question yet.
They are direct competitors to a big extent. I think that we will need two or three months to understand in what way they should be different from each other.
KP: So, you plan to leave both magazines on the market?
BL: Yes.
KP: Nevertheless, with Focus being not the most successful magazine from a financial point of view, is it possible that the same thing happens to it that has happened to Gazeta Po-Kievski, when debts and the economical component were used by its management to put pressure on journalists and their freedom?
BL: Firstly, I wouldn’t call Focus an unsuccessful project because it develops pretty much in accordance with the business plan that has been put into it … We are not going to close this project. And naturally we are not going to use any economic issues as a means of putting pressure on the editorial staff.
KP: There are rumors that you personally are going to take an active part in Korrespondent’s work. And even that you will visit editorial meetings. Is this information correct?
BL: No. Call [Vitaly]Sych [chief editor of Korrespondent ], ask him. I met Sych only once, after the deal with Jed was done. And this was a meeting that was not directly connected to Korrespondent. We simple informed him and other top managers of KP Media that the deal had taken place.
KP: Let’s talk a little bit about Forbes. So far this is one of the most successful projects in Ukraine. What is the reason?
BL: I think there were several components to it. The first one was that today we have gathered the best team for an economic publication, which includes, in my opinion, the best editor of all economic publications in the country. Unfortunately, we had to bring him along from Moscow.
Unfortunately, the level of such people is higher in Moscow. Thus we received quality content, which today, as for me, is a head higher than those that many business publications in Ukraine have. Secondly, in my opinion, we have conducted a competent PR campaign of the project.
Thirdly, it is certainly the effect of the name Forbes.
KP: Do its profits already cover the expenses?
BL: Operationally, yes.
KP: Why have you decided to issue Forbes in the Russian language in Ukraine?
BL: Because today the major business audience, as far as we understand this market, speaks Russian.
KP: There have been some loud projects in Ukraine, like National Georgaphic magazine, that didn’t last long. Can this happen to Forbes as well?
BL: I don’t think that Forbes’ project has the same perspective. Judging by the beginning, I think that Forbes can only have problems if business activity in the country falls down drastically.
Kyiv Post staff writer Irina Sandul can be reached at [email protected]
