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 In something of a shock move, Arab Media Group’s leading Arabic-language broadsheet Al Bayan has been handed over to Dubai Media Inc, on the orders of Dubai Ruler – and owner of AMG parent Dubai Holding – Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
“The decree calls for the transfer of all assets, properties, commitments and rights of Al Bayan to the DMI and so shall Al-Bayan's staff and workers to boost media work and unify the efforts of media practice for better services to the general public,” said a statement
from official UAE news agency WAM.
The changeover seems to be taking place immediately, and was greeted with an understandable degree of surprise from some AMG insiders, who were apparently informed of the decision by text message on Monday.
The reasons behind the paper’s move are unclear, but it seems improbable that Sheikh Mohammed would have made the move without a clear reason. (We’re going out on a limb here and discounting the “better service” reason given in the WAM statement.)
From a structural point of view, Al Bayan wouldn’t seem to fit as well with DMI’s TV-heavy portfolio as it would at AMG – and it seems unlikely that DMI has any plans to go into print media in a big way, given the current climate.
This being the case, it may be that the deal is more of a quid-pro-quo arrangement, with the money-making Al Bayan being moved over to DMI in exchange for something else from DMI. Alternatively it could be a political move, although the specifics behind this escape us – which just means we’re not as up on Dubai politics as we probably should be.
While AMG has been hard-hit by the recession, shedding a rumoured 2,000 jobs earlier this year, DMI has suffered less, we’d guess in no small part to being relatively less exposed to the decimated real-estate and banking industries.
More on this as we hear it.
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