Balkanweb.com
Balkanweb.com is one of the first online news portals in Albania, founded in 2002 by the Italian company Edisud Radio TV LLC. In 2011, Balkanweb.com changed ownership and was sold to the company Focus Media News LLC, together with television News 24 and the daily newspaper Gazeta Shqiptare for 5.9 Million EUR. Balkanweb.com covers news and information from all four corners of Albania with text, photo and video in real time. The portal also offers lighter news, gossip and transmits live the broadcast feed of News 24 TV, together with video from its shows. In response to an information request from MOM, the company Focus Media News LLC, referred to the portal as the main online source of news in Albania, declaring 1.5 million unique users and 84 million visits in May 2023.
Audience Share
MissingData
Ownership Type
Private
Geographic Coverage
Global
Content Type
free content
Media Companies / Groups
Focus Group
Ownership Structure
Balkanweb.com is one of the oldest news portals in Albania and it is owned by the “Focus Media News” LLC, which is owned by Focus Group LLC, where 100% of shares are controlled by Irfan Hysenbelliu.
Voting Rights
Voting rights are the same as shareholders rights.
Individual Owner
General Information
Founding Year
2000
Affiliated Interests Founder
an Italian media company headquartered in the southern port city of Bari, which in 2002 was represented by President Giuseppe Lobuono. On March 26, 2002 the Italian company founded in Albania Edisud Radio TV, with a capital of 25 million lek and active in radio and television. The legal representative of the company was Carlo Bollino, at the time a correspondent for the Italian news agency ANSA and executive manager of the Albanian daily newspaper Gazeta Shqiptare. On May 20, 2011, EDISUD sold its media holdings in Tirana, including his trademarks News 24, Gazeta Shqiptare, Milosao, Nderkombetare, Telegazeta, Bluetooth and Shqiptare, to Focus Media Group, which was owned by the late banker Artan Santo and the businessman Irfan Hysenbelliu.
Affiliated Interests Ceo
studied engineering and telecommunications at the University of Tirana. He has previously held the post of secretary for public affairs of the Socialist Movement for Integration and also has served as the CEO of Albania’s postal service. Cela has been a member of the Tirana city council and in the parliamentary elections of 2021 ran as an MP for the Socialist Movement for Integration. He holds the position of CEO of the Focus Media News September 2022.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
a journalist. He holds the position of editor in chief at Balkanweb.com news portal.
Affiliated Interests other important people
the Director for Information and Programming of News 24. He has a long career as a journalist, editor and political analyst in Albanian media and previously worked as editor in chief of the daily “Panorama” and “Shekulli”.
Contact
Rruga Ali Demi,
ish-Kombinati i Autotraktorëve, Zyrat e Administratës, Tirana;
Tel: +355(4)359104
Website: balkanweb.com
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)
Missing Data
Market Share
Missing Data
Further Information
Meta Data
The ownership structure and financial statement are publicly available on the Albanian National Business Registry. Although financial data is available for the group, there is no financial data specific to revenues of the online media outlet Balkanweb.com, hence the market share is not computable. Focus Group replied to the MOM information request on 27 July 2023. See sources for more.
