Mallya In The News, Buys 5 Us Papers

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya indicated yesterday that life was more than just liquor and beer when he bought five California newspapers for an undisclosed sum instantly establishing himself in the US media scene.

The deal was inked on Monday evening by Mallya himself and Marron Reid, the San Francisco based law firm. The five newspapers all cater to particular communities and are Marin Scope, Mill Valley Herald, Ross Valley Reporter, San Rafael News Pointer and Twin Cities Times.

M J Akbar, now editor Asian Age, for which Mallya is a franchisee in Bangalore will be editor in chief of all the five publications and also vice-chairman. Mallya will be the chairman and publisher. He has now expanded his media interests which till now consisted of just the Asian Age.

 

A UB group statement said Mallya has become the first Indian to buy newspapers in America. Very few Indian media barons have ventured abroad, though the Aroon Purie-controlled India Today has an international brand.

The offices of the newspapers are headquartered in Sausalito, San Francisco and adjoining counties.

"The entry into US media represents a significant step forward in my plans," said Mallya in a statement. "The Marin Scope papers will continue to serve the local community with verve, involvement and even greater professionalism," added Mallya. All the five are community papers and they are more popular in the US than national dailies like New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.

Simultaneously, Mallya also announced plans to launch an Asian Age edition in the US and Canada thereby expanding his media operations. The North American editions of Age will be initially edited from California and will be launched before the end of the year. This will mainly target ethnic Indian and other south Asian communities in the North American continent.

Asian Age has an international edition in London, while in India it is published from four centres, Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Bangalore.

Mallya had launched a global buying spree more than a year back when he set out to buy breweries from South Africa to USA. He entered the media scene last year in India by becoming the fanchisee for the launch of Asian Age in Bangalore. In India, Mallya heads the United Breweries group, which is the largest beer and spirits maker in the country with popular brands like Kingfisher, Bagpiper, and McDowell.

Over the last two years, the UB group has been getting rid off its non-core businesses like petrochemicals, chemicals and fertilisers, engineering and processed foods. He was also reported to be interested in buying Mumbai weekly Blitz, a report which he later denied.