Aberdeen Independent Ltd closes following its failure to find a buyer
Aberdeen Independent Limited has closed having failed in its bit to find a buyer.
The 30 staff including four journalists left on Friday afternoon following the folding the title. It is understood that the business had debts of around £200,000, although it claims its asset value is nearer to £300,000.
Eric Farquharson, managing director of the company, said Interest had been shown in the title, but in the end no one came forward with an appropriate bid, although there was interest in investment from local businessmen.
“We were obviously trying hard to find a buyer, but as the newspaper industry is not exactly flourishing at the moment, so the interest that was shown has unfortunately come to nothing as newspaper companies seem to be concentrating more on themselves rather than acquisitions at the moment,” said Farquharson.
He continued to say that he would continue on at for the next couple of weeks winding the company down for the next few weeks, and that The Aberdeen Independent newspaper was still up for sale should a company wish to acquire it.
The title was launched 12 years ago to offer businesses an alternative to Aberdeen Journals, which had a virtual monopoly in the area. The launch led to a bitter battle which ultimately saw Aberdeen Journals – then part of Northcliffe – being fined £1.3m for attempting to put the Independent out of business by offering cheap advertising in its own free newspaper.