Koha Jone LLC

Koha Jone LLC

Koha Jonë LLC is the publisher of one of the oldest continuously published newspapers in the country. Published first as an official gazette of the Labor Party for the region of Lezhe, it was privatized and published as independent newspaper since 1991. Between 1992 and 1997, it was considered one of the most critical newspapers against the government of the era and was burned down, allegedly by the secret services of the time. In 1993, two of its editors, Aleksandër Frangaj and Martin Leka were arrested and charged for "exposing military secrets" and for disseminating false information, a penal offense in Albania up to 2012. Its journalists were repeatedly harassed and, in several cases, beaten or imprisoned.

However, after 1997 collapse of the Democratic Party rule, some of the Koha Jonë staff managed to get government positions, including the then Editor in Chief Ben Blushi, who became deputy minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Education, while Martin Leka, one of the editors, become director in the public television under the leftwing government.

Koha Jonë faced stiff competition after 1998, when Shekulli Newspaper started to sell for 10 Lek (a copy of Koha Jonë was 50 Lek). Nikoll Lesi, at that time sole owner of the newspaper and Member of the Parliament, tried to fight the problem through antidumping legislation. Shekulli increased the price to 20 Lek, still less than half of Koha Jonë and other newspaper prices. In 2001, several other newspapers like Panorama, Dita Informacion (now defunct), Korrieri (now defunct) etc, appeared in the market with the same price and Koha Jonë lost relevance gradually over the years.

After some attempts to rebuild the newspaper audience, including a takeover from Aleksandër Frangaj in 2007, the newspaper ownership was transferred once again to Nikoll Lesi in 2013. As for 2016, Koha Jonë had revenues of 15.9 million Lek (0.12 Mio USD) and has about 2.7% of the print media market. As for 2017, the newspaper prints 2000 to 5,500 copies daily.

Key facts

Business Form

Private

Legal Form

Limited Liability Company

Business Sectors

Publishing

Ownership

Individual Owner

Nikoll Lesi

Nikoll Lesi is a journalist and media entrepreneur. He co-founded Koha Jonë newspaper in Lezha in 1991 and sports daily Sport Ekspres in 1997. He was elected as Member of the Parliament in 1997, 2001 and 2005 first as independent and later for various parties or coalitions. He sold Koha Jonë newspaper in 2007 to his old business partner Aleksandër Frangaj, but Frangaj resold the newspaper in 2013 for the same amount. Since 2013, Nikoll Lesi is the owner and the administrator of the Koha Jone.

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Other Media Outlets

Other Online Outlets

www.kohajone.com

Facts

Media Business

Publishing

Koha Jone LLC (100%)

General Information

Founding Year

1994

Affiliated Interests Founder

Nikoll Lesi – is a journalist and media entrepreneur. He co-founded Koha Jonë newspaper in Lezha in 1991 and sports daily Sport Ekspres in 1997. He was elected as Member of the Parliament in 1997, 2001 and 2005 first as independent and later for various parties or coalitions. He sold Koha Jonë newspaper in 2007 to his old business partner Aleksandër Frangaj, but Frangaj resold the newspaper in 2013 for the same amount. Since 2013, Nikoll Lesi is the owner and the administrator of the company.

Employees

Missing Data

Contact

Rruga Sami Frasheri, Pallatet eAviacionit te Vjeter, Nr 2., Tirana

Email: redaksia@kohajone.com

Website: www.kohajone.com

Tax/ ID Number

J71425013C

Financial Information

Revenue (Financial Data/ Optional)

0.12 Mio. $ / 15.92 Mio. Lek

Operating Profit (in Mill. $)

0.01 Mio. $ / 1.41 Mio. Lek

Advertising (in % of total funding)

Missing Data

Management

Other Influential People

Albina Gjergji – is a journalist. She is currently deputy Editor in Chief of Koha Jonë.

Further Information

Active Transparency

company/channel informs proactively and comprehensively about its ownership, data is constantly updated and easily verifiable

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Meta Data

The ownership structure and financial statement are publicly available on the Albanian National Business Registry. The financial data provided are for 2016. The Central Bank's average exchange rate for 2016 was used to convert the amounts into USD. See sources for more. Nikoll Lesi replied to the information request made by MOM team on 15 January 2018. Market share is calculated as company revenues in percent of total revenues of 12 print media companies. See sources for more.

Sources

  • Project by
    BIRN ALBANIA
  •  
    Global Media Registry
  •  
    Funded by European Union