Daily Mail could make bid for the Independent

The Daily Mail is understood to be considering a bid for the Independent and it’s sister title, the Independent on Sunday.

A deal between The Daily Mail & General Trust and Independent News & Media could happen because of the mounting pressure against the loss-making Independent titles, according to a report in the Observer.

Independent News & Media has confirmed it is in talks with rival newspaper groups to combine its backroom functions, such as IT, HR and accounts, in order to save money.

The newspaper group has been in discussions with the Telegraph Media Group and Trinity Mirror, as well as the DMGT, about the possibility of sharing services to deliver “substantial efficiencies”.

However, the company denied that the Independent and the Independent on Sunday are up for sale.

An INM spokesman said: “Any discussions with UK publishers were solely in connection with shared services.”

The Irish Times claims that job losses are also expected to happen alongside cost-cutting tactics at INM operations, saying its UK division “is likely to suffer the heaviest cuts, with the group expected to seek 100 to 200 redundancies in the coming months, a reduction of up to 40% of its workforce.”

Sir Tony O’Reilly, INM chief executive is reportedly under pressure from shareholder Denis O’Brien, who owns a 26% stake in the company, to get rid of the loss-making Independent titles.

In the latest ABC results, both titles reported relatively large circulation declines – the Independent was down by around 12% year on year, leaving its total at just under 221,000 copies, while the Independent on Sunday fell 14.5% year on year, leaving it with a circulation of around 183,000 (see ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: September 2008).

Independent: 020 7005 2000 www.independent.co.uk