Cash-rich Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) has followed in the footsteps of CMA CGM by getting into the media business.
The Gianluigi Aponte-founded company is buying Genoese newspaper group Il Secolo XIX, which also includes shipping titles The MediTelegraph, L’Avvisatore Marittimo, Il Giornale del Ponente Ligure and TTM – Tecnologie Trasporti Mare.
Many Italian shipowners have investments in local media entities. The Grimaldis, for instance, have a stake in the monthly title Economy Magazine.
However, in terms of the biggest media investments by shipping tycoons in recent years, Aponte’s peer in Marseille, Rodolphe Saadé, has been making his own headlines snapping up many four newspapers, a host of digital platforms, as well as recently bidding to take over France’s top rolling news channel and a radio station.
