Dimera Company, owned by prominent businessman Ivan Savvidis, bought three Greek newspapers at an auction held at an Athens court.

The Greek-Russian businessman, who among others owns football club PAOK of Thessaloniki, bought “Imerisia” for 580,000 euros and the two “Ethnos” titles (daily and Sunday) for 3 million.

Savvides’ company was the only bidder for the historic Greek newspapers.

Recently the Greek-Russian businessman caused an uproar when he praised Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and likened him to Russian President Vladimir Putin, while slamming main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Employees of ‘Pegasus’ – the company that owned the three papers – packed the courtroom in support of the bid, as they see the selling of the newspaper titles as the only solution to save their jobs.

Journalists, technicians and administrative staff in all titles have not received pay for at least five months of work.

Source: greece.greekreporter.com