ATHENS, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Greek shipowner Vangelis Marinakis is the new owner of DOL, one of Greece's historic major media groups, after an Athens court ratified on Monday a tender held in late May.
The court dismissed the objection on the tender process made by one of the other participants, reported TA NEA (The News) newspaper, one of DOL's dailies.
Marinakis made the the largest offer of 22.9 million euros (26.7 million U.S. dollars) to acquire the debt ridden DOL group, which includes top selling TA NEA and VIMA newspapers, two of the country's oldest dailies, as well as a popular news portal, magazines and VIMA FM radio station.
The deal includes also the 22 percent stake DOL Group has in private MEGA TV, which is also in financial trouble teetering on the brink of bankruptcy since last year.
Since the spring of 2016, more than 1,000 employees at DOL and MEGA struggled to keep the media alive without receiving wages.
A few months ago, Greek banks placed DOL under special management regime before a new owner emerges from the tender.
A dramatic slump in revenues from advertisement and sales due to the economic crisis in recent years has taken a toll on DOL as well as several other media groups in Greece.
Marinakis also owns one of Greece's largest football clubs, Olympiakos Piraeus and Nottingham Forest FC in Britain.
