O'Brien claims 'irrelevant' Independent to fold by Christmas

Published on Friday 18 September 2009 21:34

INDEPENDENT News & Media (INM) could close its flagship title the Independent by Christmas, according to the Irish publisher's second biggest shareholder.

Denis O'Brien told the Global Irish Economic Forum yesterday: "There's no point in us, as a company, subsidising a newspaper that really nobody wants to read. It's not a relevant newspaper any more and this newspaper's going to be closed by Christmas."

O'Brien has been at odds with the company's board over plans to refinance a 200 million (181m) debt issue that was meant to be paid off in May.

On Tuesday, INM's board criticised O'Brien's request for an investor meeting over the refinancing plans, saying his "personal antagonism" towards management would damage its trading prospects.

But O'Brien yesterday said: "This is not a personal thing. I've made a substantial investment in the company and I have said … we need to reduce our costs, get out of loss-making businesses and restructure."