Johncom acquisition of Sowetan and Sunday World approved

Since the conclusion of the agreement between New Africa Investments Limited and Johncom in February, it has been necessary for both parties to gather a large amount of information on the competitive landscape in media and make submissions to the Competition Commission, which then conducted a thorough investigation of the proposed acquisition. The Commission concluded that the acquisition did not give rise to any competition concerns and recommended that the Tribunal approve the transaction.

The result was very pleasing, commented Johncom CEO Connie Molusi. "We will now for the first time, be able to engage with the staff at Sowetan and start working with them on our strategy for the newspaper. There is a lot of work to be done but we are extremely excited to be adding a new voice to our stable of publications."