Focus Group

Focus Group

Focus Group is one of the main media groups in Albania and owns the informative TV station, News 24, the daily newspaper Gazeta Shqiptare, the online portal Balkanweb.com and radio News 24. The media group was founded in April 2011 by the businessman Irfan Hysenbelliu and the banker Artan Santo, while both were negotiating a purchase agreement with Edisud S.pa. The Albanian branch of Edisud S.p.a was sold in May 2011 for a total price of 5.9 million euros. Focus Group LLC is the sole owner of the company Focus Media News LLC, which owns News 24 TV, the news portal Balkanweb.com and radio News 24. Focus Group also owns Focus News Press, which owns the daily Gazeta Shqiptare.

In June 2014, Artan Santo was assassinated by two unidentified gunmen in the center of Tirana. The authors and motives of his murder are still unknown. To date, the businessman Irfan Hysenbelliu is the sole shareholder of Focus Group.

Key facts

Business Form

Private

Legal Form

Group of limited liability companies

Business Sectors

Radio and Television Broadcasting; Publishing; Construction; Trade; Hotel and Tourism; Brewery (Birra Korça); Winery; Water production; Education (private university college)

Ownership

Individual Owner

Media Outlets
Other Media Outlets

Other Online Outlets

www.gsh.al

Facts

Media Business

Radio and TV Broadcasting

Focus Media News (100%)

Publishing

Panorama Group (100%)

Business

Construction

Erjoni (100%)

Trade

Pegasos (50%)

Tourism and hospitality

Hysenbelliu (100%)

Winery

Egnatia Group (100%)

Bottled water production

Fab Group (100%)

Brewery

Egnatia Group-Birra Korca (100%)

Education

Kolegji Universitar Luarasi (100%)

General Information

Founding Year

2011

Affiliated Interests Founder

Irfan Hysenbelliu

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 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 a banker Artan Santo.

Employees

Missing Data

Contact

Rruga Ali Demi,

ish-Kombinati i Autotraktorëve, Zyrat e Administratës, Tirana

Tel: +355(4)359104

Website: balkanweb.com

Tax/ ID Number

Focus Media News (K21909002K)
Focus Press (L11806011O)

Financial Information

Revenue (Financial Data/ Optional)

Focus Media News – 3.06 Mln. $/ 347 Mln..Lek # Focus Press – 0.15 Mln.. $ / 17 Mln.. Lek

Operating Profit (in Mill. $)

Focus Media News – -0.31 Mln.. $/ -35 Mln..Lek # Focus Press – -0.02 Mln..$/ -3 Mln.. Lek

Advertising (in % of total funding)

Missing Data

Management

Other Influential People

Robert Rakipllari

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”.

Further Information

Active Transparency

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

4 ♥

Meta Data

The ownership structure and financial statements are publicly available on the Albanian National Business Registry. The financial data provided are for 2022. The Central Bank's average exchange rate for 2022 was used to convert the amounts into USD. Focus Media News replied to the MOM information request on 27 July 2023. See sources for more.

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