Nine months after we reported that The Observer newspaper, one of Uganda’s most reputable news organisations, is up for sale, it is yet to find a suitable buyer.
Sources told us that several people and entities had expressed interest, but many pulled out for unclear reasons.
Others, sources said, had backed out because of the stringent conditions management had set for the sale.
While some prospective buyers wanted to own the paper outright, the shareholders wanted to retain a stake in the paper.
The Observer wanted to follow Daily Monitor’s model, whose shareholders sold their majority stake to Kenya’s Nation Media Group but retained a small stake.
Until March this year, it was believed that the paper would be sold to Steven Magomu, a journalist turned businessman. In April, Magomu told Bbeg Media that he was still threshing out the final details of the deal.
However, the deal fell through.
Sources have told Bbeg Media that Magomu’s closeness to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) could have imperiled the deal. Magomu declined to speak to us.
Over the last five years, The Observer, like many media organisations, has struggled to stay afloat due to several factors.
With the economy in poor shape, advertisements have dwindled, and copy sales have dried up. The paper has also suffered as a result of the growth in popularity of social media platforms like X, Instagram, and TikTok, where many young readers now get their news.
The Observer was started in March 2004 by a group of senior journalists who had left the Daily Monitor, led by Kevin Ogen Aliro. Aliro passed away in November 2005.
