The Jersey Evening Post merger with the Bailiwick Express has completed, after the deal was announced in August.
Both news titles are now owned by the existing Jersey-based shareholders of the Bailiwick Express and members of its board. The sale of the 132-year-old JEP by Claverley Group has brought it back to local ownership for the first time in more than 20 years, the new owners said.
They also said they will set up an employee benefit trust so staff have a shareholding, with further plans to broaden the ownership to come.
James Filleul, co-founder, managing director and editor of the Bailiwick Express, said: “Since we announced the merger, perhaps the most common feedback has been from islanders wanting to make sure both news brands will remain. We understand that – one of the main reasons we are coming together is to make sure that actually happens.
“A strong, well-resourced, local newsroom is hard to sustain in the current media environment, which has very significant recruitment and commercial pressures. But it is essential. Bringing the JEP’s team together with Express will allow us to do that, and deliver the journalism which really matters to people, while also combining our digital knowledge and experience.”
The Bailiwick Express, which launched in 2014, produces digital newspapers for Jersey and Guernsey, an online radio station, news podcasts and magazines.
Source: Press release
Deal size: Undisclosed
Country: Jersey
Status: Official
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