In this two-part entry we are looking at the recently published financial reports of some of the most decisive publishing houses in Hungary. In the first part of our overview of the winners and losers of the pandemic, we are introducing data from Mediaworks, Magyar Jeti and Van Másik, the winners of the 2020 financial year.

Increasing Sales, Decreasing Profit

Even though according to the publishing house’s latest financial report, the net sales of Mediaworks Hungary Zrt., which belongs to the pro-government KESMA (Central European Press and Media Foundation), increased from HUF 34.91 billion in 2019 to HUF 46.33 billion in 2020, its profit after tax decreased from HUF 5.17 billion in the previous financial year to HUF 1.79 billion in 2020. Instead of paying dividends, Mediaworks has set up a profit reserve, which came up to plus HUF 3.28 billion, compared to minus HUF 1.88 billion in the previous year.

Mediaworks Hungary Zrt. owns hundreds of media products, such as the national dailies Magyar Nemzet and Nemzeti Sport, as well as every single print daily outside of Budapest, 888.hu, HírTV, Origo, Gong FM, Mandiner, Retro Rádió, Karc FM and many others. The company generates significant public advertising revenues.
The supplementary annex to Mediaworks’ report also shows that in 2020 the average number of employees was 2,129, of which 1,792 were in the intellectual professions. It is interesting to note that the provision for press litigation has increased to HUF 56.67 million – an increase of HUF 28 million compared to the previous year. (source)

Increasing Sales Revenue and Donations

Despite the advertising market crisis, 444 and Qubit’s publisher Magyar Jeti Zrt. closed its best financial year ever. At the end of 2020, the media company recorded a profit after tax of HUF 211.8 million, a significant increase compared to the HUF 2.6 million profit in 2019. Although according to Gábor Kardos, this outstanding result required significant efforts in content improvements, it seems that 444’s community fundraising campaign was a major success.

Looking at Magyar Jeti’s accounts, one of the most striking sources of revenue is clearly its reader revenues. In 2020, the company recorded a total of HUF 272.2 million in reader revenues, which is also a significant improvement compared to the HUF 95.6 million in 2019. The increase in sales revenue also contributed to 444’s financial year, with Magyar Jeti generating 10.8 percent more revenue (HUF 601 million) compared to 2019.

Magyar Jeti’s HUF 272.2 million reader revenue in 2020 is an outstanding result in the Hungarian media market – for comparison, Telex reported a reader revenue of HUF 318 million in its autumn report last year, which was donated by 41,000 supporters in order to launch the newspaper. The two media companies might follow different business models, but these figures at least give some idea of the resources that community funding can provide to a media company that is concerned with public life in Hungary today. (source)
Fully Supported by the Readers

According to Telex’s recently published transparency report, almost 50,000 people have supported the news site since its launch, with a total of HUF 822 million. They have more than 13,000 regular supporters. All of this support is used to produce content and provide the necessary conditions for it. A significant part of this amount, HUF 318 million, was raised before the launch of Telex. They do not have large regular donors sending hundreds of thousands of forints. The largest grant Van Másik Kft. – the publisher of Telex – received was from the Czech media company Economia.

Veronika Munk and Szabolcs Dull, the two editors-in-chief of Telex, and Márton Kárpáti, the head of Telex’s publishing house, set up the non-profit Ne Halgassunk Nonprofit Kft. The name of the company comes from the fact that Szabolcs closed his spontaneous staff meeting in Index after his dismissal with the slogan “Don’t be silent!”. This company has received 200,000 euros from the foundation of the Czech publishing company Economia – money that is not an investment, but simply a grant, for which nothing has been asked and nothing will be given in return.

One of the main goals of Ne Hallgassunk Kft. is to support the independent Hungarian public and freedom of the press. The non-profit company will continue to play an important role in raising donations and grant money. The restructuring of Van Másik Kft., which publishes Telex, is also in full swing, with one of the aims being to give employees ownership of the new company. (source)