Portugal’s Lusa News Agency to be fully nationalised

Portugal’s news agency Lusa is to be fully nationalised after years of struggling to remain economically viable because of problems with news outlets not paying their bills.

For example, last year Lusa cut news services to newspaper Diário de Notícias that owed the news agency €905,000. Nevertheless, In 2023 it suffered a modest net negative result of €225,000.

After the purchase, in July, of the 45.71% stake of Global Media and Páginas Civilizados na Lusa for €2.49 million, the State now holds 95.86% of the shares of the news agency.

The remaining shares are distributed among NP – Notícias de Portugal (2.72%), Público (1.38%), RTP (0.03%) and Diário do Minho (0.01%), which should be acquired by the State at the end of January or beginning of February.

Lusa, in line with many Portuguese news outlets, has found it difficult to turn a profit, particularly since the Great Recession from 2008 and Covid-19 epidemic, as many of its clients – the Portuguese press included – suffer from structural weaknesses and falling advertising revenues, making it hard for them to run a profit and provide adequate working and salary conditions for their journalists.

Since both Público and Diário do Minho and RTP have already given the green light to an agreement with the Government for the purchase of their shares, the only thing left to do is finalise the purchase of the share of NP – which has a shareholders’ agreement – whose process “should be completed at the end of this month or early next month”, since this entity needs to hold a general meeting, explained Joaquim Carreira, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lusa.

“The issue is completely resolved,” said Joaquim Carreira, who was heard in Parliament about the change in the shareholder structure, the company’s future governance model, and Lusa’s role in the implementation of the action plan for the media announced by the Government. This clarification of Lusa’s structure, he said, “brings more agility” to the agency.

In November, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pedro Duarte, had said that the Government had already made a proposal to acquire the rest of Lusa’s share capital that it does not yet hold, for a value corresponding to the agency’s valuation within the scope of other acquisitions, adding that the Government would not “haggle” the price.

Joaquim Carreira also highlighted Lusa’s presence all over Portugal and in “more than 21 countries, with special emphasis on Africa, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Angola, São Tomé”, and in Asia, such as East Timor, Macau, China, in addition to being in Europe and the Americas.

In September, the Government had also said that it intended to strengthen Lusa’s independence so that it is immune to political changes. For the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pedro Duarte Lusa has to maintain its regular activity, “regardless of whether ministers or the Government change or whether the opinion of a minister or Government changes. Lusa has to be immune to this”.

The news agency has 264 workers, mostly female, and about 90 service providers.