Balžekas departure won’t change course of companies, owner says

The CEO of AS Eesti Meedia, Sven Nuutmann, said it is inevitable that differences of opinion concerning development strategies arise from time to time between shareholders and also such managers whose so far contribution has been altogether commendable.

“It happened this way also with Tomas Balžekas, whose work to date we greatly appreciate, but whose vision concerning the future did not overlap with the view of AS Eesti Meedia,” Nuutmann said in a statement.

He said Eesti Meedia wishes to merge the support services of the Lithuanian businesses more than has been the case to date, in order to be more effective as a group. At the same time, the editorial offices of the media companies will continue working independently just like now, and all existing brands will be preserved.

The CEO of AS Eesti Meedia emphasized that the vision of the parent company is to continue to strengthen the position of the 15min portal and BNS Lithuania in the Lithuanian media market, develop investigative and free journalism, and there is no reason for the employees of the companies to feel insecure.

“The collectives of both companies have done a good job developing the companies and AS Eesti Meedia is absolutely determined to continue along this route,” Nuutmann said.

AS Eesti Meedia will start the search for a new manager shortly. Until then the portal 15min and the news agency BNS Lithuania will be managed by Justinas Šimkus, manager of the Lithuanian classifieds businesses belonging to AS Eesti Meedia.