Estonian media company Geenius Meedia to be acquired by Ekspress Grupp

Ellex Counsel Antti Perli advised Hendrik Roonemaa and Siim Saidla, the founders and main shareholders of the media company OÜ Geenius Meedia, on the sale of the company to the media group AS Ekspress Grupp.

On 17 December 2021, AS Ekspress Grupp entered the contract for the acquisition of 100% of shares in the media company Geenius Meedia OÜ.

Founded in 2015 by tech journalist Henrik Roonemaa and publisher Siim Saidla, Geenius Meedia OÜ was a tech portal that has grown into a modern media company with 13 web portals, podcasts and print magazines. The content of Geenius Meedia is available at geenius.ee. The web portals of Geenius have about 300,000 monthly users and will have approximately 4,000 paid digital subscriptions. The nine-month sales revenue of Geenius Meedia was approximately EUR 1.4 million and has almost doubled as compared to the same period a year earlier.

The purpose of the acquisition is to grow the digital media business and expand into a niche that the publications of Ekspress Grupp do not yet regularly cover. The shared goal of Ekspress Grupp and Geenius Meedia is to continue offering attractive content for the readers of geenius.ee.

After the transaction, Geenius Meedia OÜ will continue to operate as a separate media company and its main founders Hendrik Roonemaa and Siim Saidla will remain actively involved in the company’s management and daily operations. As a group, Ekspress Grupp offers Geenius Meedia synergy in functions supporting the media business, providing notably bigger growth potential for the fast-growing company.