Panorama Group JSC
Panorama Group is the biggest publisher in the Albanian print media market, through its ownership of the daily newspaper Panorama, the sports daily newspaper Panorama Sport and the monthly magazine Psikologjia. The group was founded in September 2002 by three businessmen Irfan Hysenbelliu, Alban Xhaferi and Lefter Sota. The first two had considerable investments in the field of construction, while Sota was known for his metals company. Documents from the Albanian National Business Register show that Irfan Hysenbelliu owned 34% of the shares, while Xhaferri and Sota each had 33% of shares in the company. Alban Xhaferri withdrew from the company in 2003 and one year later went on to open the newspaper “Metropol.” In 2005, Lefter Sota also transferred his shares in the company to Hysenbelliu and in the same year founded the newspaper ‘Tirana Observer.’ The daily newspaper ‘Metropol’ closed in 2010, while Tirana Observer continues to publish online. Since 2005, Irfan Hysenbelliu is the sole owner of the ‘Panorama Group’. The group also is the sole owner of the private university ‘Luarasi.’
Business Form
Private
Legal Form
Joint-Stock Company
Business Sectors
Radio and Television Broadcasting; Publishing; Construction; Trade; Hotel and Tourism; Brewery (Birra Korça); Winery; Water production; Education (private university college)
Individual Owner
Irfan Hysenbelliu is an entrepreneur in the field of construction, hotel business, brewery and private higher education. He started his career in 1994 as a trader and importer of goods, but later expanded into the profitable construction market in Tirana. In 1997 Hysenbelliu privatized the state-owned enterprise for the production of educational materials “ALB-MS 97’ and together with 10 other businessmen privatized ‘Birra Tirana’- Albania’s largest brewery. Later he sold his stake in ‘Birra Tirana’ and bought the ‘Birra Korca’ brewery in 2004. In 2002 Hysenbelliu invested in the media sector and founded Panorama Group LLC, which owns the daily newspaper Panorama, the sport daily Panorama Sport and the weekly magazine Psikologjia. In 2011, Hysenbelliu extended his reach in the audiovisual media market and bought the television station News 24, the daily newspaper Gazeta Shqiptare, the portal Balkanweb.com and radio Rash for 5.9 million euro together with ta banker Artan Santo. Although known publicly as the president of ‘Focus Group’, Irfan Hysenbelliu does not appear on paper as the owner of the media company. According to the company’s business registration extract, the proxy owner of the company is his cousin Bashkim Hysenbelli.
Other Print Outlets
Panorama Sport (2.60%)
Psikologjia (0.89%)
Other Online Outlets
http://www.panorama.com.al/sport/
http://revistapsikologji.com/
www.panoramaplus.al
Media Business
Publishing
Panorama Group (100%)
Pubishing
Focus Press LLC (100%)
Radio and Television Broadcasting
Focus Media News (100%)
Business
Construction
Erjoni (100%)
W. Elektrik (100%)
Trade
Pegasos (50%)
Hysenbelliu Group (100%)
Hotel and tourism
Hysenbelliu (100%)
Winery
Egnatia Group (100%)
Bottled water production
Fab Group (100%)
Brewery
Egnatia Group-Birra Korca (99.02%)
Education
University College Luarasi (100%)
General Information
Founding Year
2002
Affiliated Interests Founder
Irfan Hysenbelliu, Alban Xhaferri and Lefter Sota – the daily newspaper ‘Panorama’ started publication in 2002, as a joint-venture between three businessmen, Irfan Hysenbelliu, Alban Xhaferri and Lefter Sota. The first two had considerable investments in the field of construction, while Sota was known for his metals company. Documents from the National Business Register show that Irfan Hysenbelliu owned 34% of the shares, while Xhaferri and Sota each had 33% of shares in the company. Alban Xhaferri withdrew from the company in 2003 and one year later went on to open the newspaper “Metropol.” In 2005, Lefter Sota also transferred his shares in the company to Hysenbelliu and in the same year founded the newspaper ‘Tirana Observer.’ The daily newspaper ‘Metropol’ closed in 2010, while Tirana Observer continues to publish online. Since 2005, Irfan Hysenbelliu is the sole owner of the media house ‘Panorama Group’.
Employees
MIssing Data
Contact
Rruga “Panorama”, Nd.3, H.14, Ap. 3, Njësia Bashkiake nr. 9, 1016 Tirana
Tel: +355 42 403 207
Website: www.panorama.com.al
Tax/ ID Number
K22112005E
Financial Information
Revenue (Financial Data/ Optional)
2.12 Mio. $ / 271.45 Mio. Lek
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
0.07 Mio. $ / 8.69 Mio. Lek
Advertising (in % of total funding)
Missing Data
Management
Executive Board
Ardit Cela – 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 is a member of the Tirana city council and in the last elections ran as an MP for the Socialist Movement for Integration. Since January 2016 he holds the post of CEO of the Panorama Group.
Supervisory Board
Fabjola Hysenbelliu – is the daughter of Panorama Group owner Irfan Hysenbelliu and a member of the supervisory council of the company.
Fatmir Hysenbelliu – is the son of the owner of Panorama Group Irfan Hysenbelliu and a member of the Supervisory Council of the company.
Folitjana Puravelli – is a member of the Supervisory Council of Panorama Group.
Other Influential People
Robert Rakipllari – is a journalist and editor in chief of the daily newspaper ‘Panorama’. Earlier, he held the position of editor in chief of the daily newspaper ‘Shekulli’.
Fatos Lubonja – is an Albanian publicist, writer and journalist. At the age 23 Lubonja was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for "agitation and propaganda" after police found his diaries, which contained criticisms of Hoxha in his uncle's attic. In 1979, while still incarcerated, Lubonja was charged again by the regime, this time for having created a "counter-revolutionary organization" alongside nine other prisoners, and was sentenced to a further twenty-five years. Lubonja was released after seventeen years, in 1991, became involved in human rights, and founded the cultural magazine Përpjekja [The struggle] in 1994. Lubonja is the author of “The second sentence”, “Inside the Albanian Gulag” and “Albanian Heritage in Danger”. He is also an outspoken critic of Albanian politicians and current Prime Minister Edi Rama. Lubonja is a columnist of the daily newspaper Panorama and a regular commentator at the TV stations News 24.
Further Information
Meta Data
The ownership structure and financial statement are publicly available at the Albanian National Business Registry for Panorama Group joint stock company. The financial data provided are for 2016. The Central Bank's average exchange rate for 2016 was used to convert the amounts into USD. Panorama Group replied to the MOM information request on 8 January 2018. See sources for more.
