Denník N invests hundreds of thousands euros and takes over EUobserver
The first European media acquisition facilitated, in part, by this newsletter. No, really.
This story begins June 2025 in Amsterdam, at one of those industry events where people mill around with wine glasses, trading complaints about platforms and capitalism. I ended up talking to Alejandro Tauber, the publisher of EUobserver. We didn’t know each other, but bonded quickly, I think it was a shared appreciation for Brian Morrissey and The Rebooting Show.
We talked shop, and I offered unsolicited advice, as I tend to do. He was gracious about it. EUobserver was in a bind: funding was getting difficult, growth had plateaued, and the nonprofit structure made it nearly impossible to raise the capital needed to break through. He was looking for options. I thought I could help.
I connected Alejandro to Veronika Munk and Tomáš Bella at Denník N, the Slovak digital publisher that has become a real success story in European media. Denník N started in Bratislava in 2015, later expanded to the Czech Republic, and has been profitable while building one of the more sophisticated reader-revenue operations in Central Europe. I know them pretty well, knew they had some capital and an appetite to expand. I thought the fit might work.
They talked. They talked more. And now, months later, the deal is done.
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EUobserver is joining N Press, the publishing company behind Denník N. The entire team, little more than a dozen people, is staying on. The brand, domain, and mission remain the same. The investment, I’m told, is in the hundreds of thousands of euros. The goal is breakeven by year three.
I wasn’t paid for this deal, though I’ve been promised a beer and possibly dinner. Still, I’m proud of my part, and I’m disclosing it because that’s what you do.
Everything below is based on an on the record online conversation I had late January with Tomas Bella (N Press / Denník N) and Alejandro Tauber (EUobserver).
In this edition we’ll cover:
the basics of the deal
the short term strategy of the “new” entity
the strengths and weaknesses of each publisher and how they hope to complement each other
EUobserver’ competitive positioning and long term prospects
my analysis of the challenges ahead