Alfa
Television "Alfa" was formed as a project by a group of Macedonian businessmen from various sectors who joined forces to enter the media business. In 2008, the companies "Fersped" (shipping), "Makosped" (shipping), "Tehnometal Vardar" (trade), and "Europa" (confectionery industry) acquired the company "Alfa Skopje" from the Greek businessman Dimitris Kondominas. Alfa, under the former name "TV Skopje", had held a concession for local television since 1998 and aired entertainment programmes without copyright content. After the acquisition by the business group, the current commercial broadcasting company "Alfa" was formed, with significant investments in equipment, staff, and studios for an ambitious media project. The most influential person in the television at that time was the businessman Sterjo Nakov, whose company "Fersped" had the largest stake in the television, with 57 per cent of the shares. Nakov, along with his partners, was considered influential businessmen who emerged from the post-socialist transition from public to private ownership in the 1990s, and were seen as close to the SDSM party, which was in power at the time.
In 2012, a drastic change occurred when the stake of "Fersped" in the television was bought by the Serbian businessman Veselin Jevrosimovic through his company "CHS Invest". One year later, "Alfa" obtained a national concession but completely changed its editorial policy, shifting from a critic to a supporter of the ruling party, VMRO-DPMNE.
After the change of power in 2017, "Alfa" remained the only national television with a conservative and right-wing editorial policy, close to the VMRO-DPMNE party. The same year there was a change in ownership when Jevrosimovic sold his majority share to Hungarian Peter Schatz (99 per cent) and to the Serbian businessman Goran Balac (one per cent). This change did not bring drastic changes to the editorial policy or the newsroom team.
Audience Share
Missing Data
Ownership Type
Private
Geographic Coverage
National
Content Type
Free content
Media Companies / Groups
CBC “Alfa”
Ownership Structure
"Alfa" TV is wholly owned by "Alfa Skop". Of this company, 57 per cent of the shares are owned by "CHS Invest", and the other shares of 17, 15 and 11 per cent belong to the companies "Makoshped", "Europa" and "Tehnometal Vardar", which has declared bankruptcy. The owners of "CHS Invest" are Goran Balac with 1 per cent and the company "Target Media" with 99 per cent. "Target Media" is wholly owned by Peter Schatz of Hungary, making Peter Schatz the dominant ultimate owner of the television station.
Individual Owner
Group / Individual Owner
Makosped
Makosped is a joint stock company for international shipping. The largest number of shares in the company is held by the Trade company for wholesale and retail trade MEPKOM, owned by Koco and Marika Mocan and the Lottery of North Macedonia Joint Stock Company.
Tehnometal Vardar
Tehnometal Vardar is a joint-stock company for specialized trade. The company is in bankruptcy. The authorized person in the company is Koco Mocan.
Evropa
AD Evropa is engaged in food processing industry and produces chocolate, candy and waffles. The shareholders of significance are: The forwarding company Fershped has the most shares, 21.77% in AD Europe, in which AD Makoshped has the most shares -19.65%, and the sons of the founder of the television, Shterjo Nakov, Sasho and Dragan together have a total of 22.87% of Fershped.
General Information
Founding Year
2008
Affiliated Interests Founder
At the time of the establishment of "Alfa" Television, its founding company "Alfa Skop" was owned by four companies, of which "Fersped" had a majority stake of 57 per cent of shares, while the rest of the shares were distributed among "Fersped" (17%), "Evropa" (11%) and "Tehnometal Vardar" (15%). The majority owner of "AD Fersped" was the businessman Sterjo Nakov, who is also considered as the founder of the television. Nakov was one of the country's most powerful businessmen in the 1990s and early 2000s, and was involved in shipping, winemaking, hospitality and other businesses.
Affiliated Interests Ceo
Is a Macedonian film director, and directed more than ten films, TV series and documentaries in his career. He has had no known journalistic career, nor visible experience in the news industry until his appointment as the CEO of "Alfa" Television in 2019.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
Is a graduate journalist with a two-decade long career, which he began as a reporter in "Kanal 5" television. He has also worked at the now defunct "A1" television and at "Macedonian Radio Television". He first became part of "Alfa" in 2013, and in 2020 he left for the United States, where he worked for the "Voice of America" for two years. When he came back to his home country, he returned to "Alfa", where he was appointed editor-in-chief in December 2022.
Contact
Address: Kacanicki pat, Vizbegovo BB, 1000 Skopje
еmail: alfatv@alfa.mk
phone: +389922600370
website: www.alfa.mk
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
2.09 Mln $ / 122.64 Mln. MKD
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
6.987 $ / 409.465 MKD
Advertising (in % of total funding)
627.817 $ / 36.79 Mln. MKD (30%)
Market Share
3.02%
Further Information
Meta Data
The ownership structure and the financial reports are based on data recived from Central registry of the Republic of North Macedonia. The documents were received on 28.06.2023 based on a government decision from 2017 for free access for investigative journalists. The financial information is for 2022. For the calculation of the amounts in US dollars, the average exchange rate for 2022 from the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia was used.
