Argumenty I Fakty in Ukraine
The newspaper has been published since 1998 by virtue of a license from the Russian Holding Argumenty I Fakty. The license was obtained by United Media Holding, the managing company of which is Publishing House Ukrainian Media Holding.According to the State Registry of Media, UMH is also the founder of Argumenty I Fakty. Digest, Argumenty I Fakty.Zdorovya.
Audience Share
2.9
Ownership Type
private
Geographic Coverage
National
Content Type
paid content
Media Companies / Groups
UMH
Ownership Structure
Argumenty I Fakty is a part of UMH holding, the managing company of which is Publishing House Ukrainian Media Holding LLC, which is newspaper founder as at 2013. The founders of UMH Publishing House LLC includes Ukrainian Media Group Limited Liability Company, United Media Holding N.V. (Netherlands) and QWERTY Business Inc. (British Virgin Islands). The ultimate beneficial owner, according to the registry, is Adrian Matthew Bradley.
Voting Rights
MD
Individual Owner
General Information
Founding Year
1998
Founder
Borys Lozhkin
Affiliated Interests Founder
The founder of UMH holding, ax-chairman of the Presidential administration (from 2014 to August 29, 2016). He was born in Kharkiv in 1971. In 1985-1989, he worked as a reporter in Leninska Zmina and Vecherniy Kharkiv newspapers. In 1989-1990, he founded a distribution network for newspapers and magazines. In 1994, he founded UMH publishing house, which issued the first Ukrainian tabloid Telenedelia. In 1998, he created a UMH group holding, which consolidated Telenedelia, Argumenty i Fakty in Ukraine, and then magazines Football and Forbes in Ukraine. By 2011, it comprised of 25 print media, 8 radio stations, a series of online projects, including bigmir.net. His business partner in UMH was Hennadiy Boholiubov, the business partner of Ihor Kolomoyskyi in Privat group. In 2012, Lozhkin, jointly with the media holdings of Petro Porshenko and Rinat Akhmetov, incorporated United Online Ventures, which consolidated i.ua, bigmir.net and tochka.net. As regards to his political career, he held offices of the advisor to the Minister of Economics Viktor Suslov (1997-1998), deputy of Kharkiv municipal council (1998-2002), first as advisor, and then the head of President Administration in 2014. After dismissal he became the chairman of the National Investment Council. From 2004 to 2006, he was the president of the Ukrainian Association of Press Publishers, and in 2012-2013 the member of presidium of the Media Employers’ Federation (an affiliate of Firtash-Liovochkin group).
Ceo
Volodymyr Brechko
Affiliated Interests Ceo
MD
Editor-In-Chief
Oleksii Stepanov
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
He was born in 1980 in Zaporizhia. Obtained a higher education journalism (Kharkiv National University named after Karazin). From 2002 to 2009, he worked as a journalist and editor of Komsomolskaya Pravda in Ukraine. In 2009-2010, he worked as an editor of the Weekly.ua (UMH holding). Started working in Argumenty I Fakty in 2013. Was appointed as an editor in July 2016.
Other Important People
Andrii Khrustaliov
Olena Bondarenko
Affiliated Interests other important people
Andrii Khrustaliov is the former chief editor (2014-2016), and more recently the editor of Korespondent magazine, which also includes the UMH holding.
Olena Bondarenko has been the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of UMH, people’s deputy from the Party of Regions from September 2014 to April 2015. Known as a journalist and later a politician. She worked on Donetsk television; in 1995-1998, she was the editor of TRC Ukraine news service, worked in Donetsk representative office of TRC Inter, and TRC New Donbass. She was the leader of the press service of the Donetsk Regional Council (2002-2006, the chairman of the board was one of the leaders of the Party of Regions, and now the Opposition Bloc, Boris Kolesnikov). From 2006 to 2014, she has been the people’s deputy from the Party of Regions (5th, 6th, 7th convocation).
Contact
104 Kyrylivska St., Kyiv 04080, T: (044) 205-43-04 e-mail: aif@aif.ua www.aif.ua
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
MD
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
MD
Advertising (in % of total funding)
MD
Market Share
MD
Further Information
Headlines
Досрочное закрытие сделки. Курченко стал собственником UMH group
http://korrespondent.net/business/mmedia_and_adv/3203950-dosrochnoe-zakrytye-sdelky-kurchenko-stal-sobstvennykom-UMH-group
Газету «Аргументы и Факты в Украине» возглавил Алексей Степанов http://www.aif.ua/money/company/gazetu_argumenty_i_fakty_v_ukraine_vozglavil_aleksey_stepanov
Meta Data
The difficulty of documented confirmation of beneficial owners is related to the offshore company registration. Also, the company website contains almost no information on managers, making it difficult to establish the data reliability. Information about the fact that the publication has no such position as CEO was received from the newspaper editorial board by phone. UMH does not expressly indicate, and does not deny the involvement of Sergiy Kurchenko in business. In a press release of SYEPEK published by Liga Business Inform, the UMH acquisition is commented by Kurchenko, described as the chairman of SYEPEK supervisory board. The information on Kurchenko’s affiliation to UMH is also confirmed by the registry of court decisions. In particular, the decision to collect a debt by Ukreximbank from Correspondent LLC, indicates the company controlled by Kurchenko, SYEPEK (Eastern European Fuel Energy Company), as a third party. The business is said to be owned by Sergiy Kurchenko in the company press release published by Interfax news agency.
Sources
State register Ministry of justice of Ukraine of print media and information agencies as subjects of information activity. Retrieved in August 2016, from http://dzmi.informjust.ua/
Unified state register of the Ministry of justice of legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and civic formations. Retrieved in August 2016, from https://usr.minjust.gov.ua/
Official web-site of Argumenty i Fakty. Retrieved in August 2016, from http://www.aif.ua/
Official web-site of UMH. Retrieved in August 2016, from http://www.umh.com.ua/
(2013, November 5). Корреспондент.net. Досрочное закрытие сделки. Курченко стал собственником UMH group. Retrieved in August 2016 from http://korrespondent.net/business/mmedia_and_adv/3203950-dosrochnoe-zakrytye-sdelky-kurchenko-stal-sobstvennykom-UMH-group
(2016, February 3). Наші гроші.. «Укрексімбанк» і досі стягує 192 мільйони за кредит Курченку на купівлю медіахолдингу Ложкіна. Retrieved in August 2016 from http://nashigroshi.org/2016/02/03/ukreksimbank-i-dosi-styahuje-192-miljony-za-kredyt-kurchenku-na-kupivlyu-mediaholdynhu-lozhkina/
(2007, October 26). Companion. "Украинская медиа группа" стала собственником издателя "Аргументы и факты. Украина". Retrieved in August 2016 from http://www.companion.ua/articles/content?id=16412
Слово і діло. Ложкін Борис Євгенович. Retrieved in August 2016, from http://www.slovoidilo.ua/persony/lozhkin-borys-yevhenovych
(2016, July 7). Official web-site of Argumenty i Fakty. Газету «Аргументы и Факты в Украине» возглавил Алексей Степанов. Retrieved in August 2016 from http://www.aif.ua/money/company/gazetu_argumenty_i_fakty_v_ukraine_vozglavil_aleksey_stepanov
(2012, February 20). Українська правда. Порошенко, Ложкин и Ахметов объединяют свои интернет-активы. Retrieved in August 2016 from http://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2012/02/20/6959034/
(2015, August 8). Official web-site of the media group. Заявление относительно отсутствия доступа к сайту forbes.ua. Retrieved in August 2016 from http://www.umh.com.ua/ru/press-centre/news/news-item/zajavlenie-otnositeljno-otsutstvija-dostupa-k-sajtu-forbes-ua
(2013, June 21). Ліга.Бізнес. Компания Курченко прокомментировала покупку UMH group. Retrieved in August 2016 from http://biz.liga.net/all/tek/novosti/2528192-kompaniya-kurchenko-prokommentirovala-pokupku-umh-group.htm
(2013, May 27). Корреспондент.net. Корреспондент: Золотий хлопець. Інтерв’ю з найбільш загадковим українським бізнесменом Сергієм Курченком. Retrieved in August 2016 from http://ua.korrespondent.net/journal/1562410-korrespondent-zolotij-hlopec-interv-yu-z-najbilsh-zagadkovim-ukrayinskim-biznesmenom-sergiem-kurche
Companies in the UK. MR MATTHEW ADRIAN BRADLEY. Retrieved in August 2016 from https://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/director/4418739/matthew-bradley