The Ringier Axel Springer-owned property portal Morizon.pl may be about to lose out on a key marketing channel along with its stable-mate horizontal platform Gratka.pl. Thanks to a deal between Gratka’s former owner Polska Press and RAS, the two property marketing titles currently have their listings advertised across the Polska Press network which includes hundreds of local and regional newsprint and online titles in Poland which have some 17.4 million users per month. This may be about to come to an end though as HKM-owned German media group Verlagsgruppe Passau has sold Polska Press to the state-controlled local media group PKN Orlen for a reported $27 million.
The fate of the property sites’ listings on Polska Press may now be the indirect subject of political controversy as the ruling Polish Law and Justice party has long argued that foreign companies, such as RAS, have too much influence over Polish media. Indeed the purchase of Polska Press has been seen in some quarters as an attempt by the government to gain more control over the media, and the listings of German-owned Gratka and Morizon may be about to lose out.
No decision has yet been made about the fate of RAS portal listings on Polska Press and the PKN Orlen deal is still subject to approval from the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.
