Evening Standard owner in talks to buy Independent titles

Alexander Lebedev, Russian oligarch owner of the London Evening Standard is understood to be in talks to acquire the Independent and Independent on Sunday.

Senior executives from Independent News & Media (IN&M) have been in discussions with Lebedev’s representatives over a possible sale, with one source claiming that a nominal offer for both titles has already been made, reports Media Week.

It added that negotiations with IN&M are so advanced that discussions have already been held over the new management structure for a combined entity.

Lebedev acquired a 75.1% stake in the Evening Standard in January (see Lebedev buys Evening Standard), with the paper relaunching as the London Evening Standard at the start of May (see Evening Standard relaunches today with promises of better behaviour).

The latest ABC figures, for May 2009, show that the Independent‘s circulation was down 15% year on year, while the Independent on Sunday suffered a fall of almost 17% year on year (see ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: May 2009).