close
close

What does Len Blavatnik want from News 13?

Posted on by darion

Len Blavatnik, one of the richest men in the world, did not anticipate the firestorm surrounding the appointment of Julia Szamalov-Berkowicz as CEO of News 13, and certainly not its intensity. Nor did he anticipate that his lawyers would have to answer in the High Court of Justice to the News 13 employees whose salaries he pays.

Globes spoke to dozens of people who know Blavatnik well, trying to assess his role as the majority shareholder of Reshet 13 in the surprising and somewhat problematic appointment of Shamalov-Berkovich as head of the station’s news company. He wanted to find out whether there were hidden interests, and if so, what they were, and what life would be like in the news organization once the storm passed.

“There’s no way he wouldn’t support it”

There is no doubt about one thing: Blavatnik was privy to the Shamalov-Berkovich nomination. Opinions are divided on the extent to which he forced the channel’s management to do so, or simply gave it his strong support.

“Nadav (Topolski, chairman of Channel 13 – MV) can’t stand Julia. He has a grudge against her since she opposed the merger of Channel 10 and Reshet. Len met Julia under the same circumstances,” the former executive director of Reshet told Globes. “Six months ago, Julia came to Len and asked him for a job, literally saying that she had no money. He arranged for her to work as an external consultant at Reshet for a monthly salary of NIS 30,000.” The same source added: “In my opinion, Blavatnik believes that she is a strong character and is suitable for this position. This is not politics. You can say bad things about Nadav, but it is not up to him to make this choice. In addition, they are trying to shift the blame to the new CEO of Reshet 13, Emiliano Calemzuk.”

This version is consistent with the assessment and experience of another former CEO at Reshet. “Even if it’s not his nomination, there’s no way he wouldn’t support it.” According to him, “it was very clear who Julia is and what her positions are. It’s also clear that Julia is born to fight, and when there’s a fight, she thrives. She’s not someone who avoids conflict, and that’s exactly what Reshet is counting on.”

The big question, according to the same source, is whether the move represents a shift in the news organization’s conception from a journalist-centric company, as political commentator Raviv Drucker and legal correspondent Aviad Glickman have called it, to a management-centric company, or a move to change the very corporate DNA, its political orientation. “I’m more inclined to the former,” the same former executive says.

“Right-winger trying to distance himself from Netanyahu”







The 60-year-old Shamalov-Berkovich’s last public post was as chairwoman of the Second Television and Radio Authority. Her acquaintance with Channel 13 runs deep, as does her resentment of it, because as an industry regulator she opposed the merger of Channel 10 and Reshet that gave birth to the company in its current form. But that’s not the only reason for the heat being stirred by her appointment. In the eyes of journalists, Shamalov-Berkovich’s political past as a member of the Knesset in the Kadima faction and then joining Likud have cast doubt on her ability to serve as editor-in-chief. In addition, her record includes a series of particularly problematic statements, particularly regarding women. Shamalov-Berkovich has some experience in news organizations. She founded a Russian-language Israeli television channel about two decades ago and served as CEO of the Russian-language Israeli newspaper Vesti.

The political background of Shamalov-Berkowicz’s nomination raises questions about Blavatnik’s own political views and her motivations for the nomination.

The former director of Reshet 13 discusses his acquaintance with Blavatnik in this context. “He’s on the right. I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought the company’s employees had gone too far to the left. But it must be said that he doesn’t interfere with the content, and historically, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a case where he interfered, not with any news CEO, as far as I know. But when the business itself is failing, he doesn’t like it, and at that stage he gets more involved. And today the business is failing.”

While former Reshet executives have insisted that Blavatnik never interfered with content, many at News 13 are concerned about Shamalov-Berkovich’s political connections and the implications for the news organization. Since his appointment, there have even been rumors that Blavatnik met with Benjamin Netanyahu during his last visit to Israel. However, insiders have vehemently denied this, saying he has not met or spoken with the prime minister in more than five years. Blavatnik and Netanyahu have had a past relationship, but his aides say the turning point was the investigation into Netanyahu. At the time, Blavatnik provided testimony about their relationship and media involvement. There has been no contact between the two since, and insiders say he has distanced himself from Netanyahu and Israeli politics.

Blavatnik’s active participation in nominations is historically confirmed, and News 13 has a fairly long history of such nominations. Golan Yochpaz, Israel Twito, Aviram Elad, and Or Zelkovnik have all served as CEO in recent years, with some even flying in to meet with Blavatnik prior to her nomination.

Similar activity was also seen in his investment arm when he met with Tomer Bar-Zeev, CEO of ironSource, on the eve of a major investment.

Long-term cooperation with Nadav Topolski

In contrast to the high turnover at News 13, Blavatnik’s other businesses have shown impressive stability in their management ranks. Avi Fischer, CEO of Clal Industries & Investments, is an executive who has worked with him for many years, as is Reshet Chairman Nadav Topolski, who also became a partner and owns a minority stake in the channel.

Their acquaintance began when Topolski was a student studying in the United States on a Blavatnik scholarship. “Len is a warm, intelligent Zionist Jew. He gave me a scholarship and that could have been the end of the story. But he told me: ‘You have an open line to me,'” Topolski told Globes.

In the same interview, Topolski also spoke about how he ended up working at Reshet, saying that after graduating, he went to work at Access Industries, Blavatnik’s holding company. Then, he said, in 2018, before the merger with Reshet, Blavatnik told him “about Channel 10 and its huge losses, and he talked about how he was the only one injecting funds, and he asked me to try to help.” According to Topolski, he was enthusiastic about the idea. “It sounded like fun. It’s a challenge and interesting, so yallaLet’s go. I went back to Israel, landed, went straight to the Channel 10 board meeting and started working.”

An ecosystem source familiar with the pair told Globes, “You could say the relationship between Blavatnik and Nadav is like that of a father and son.” Another source said, “Nadav and Len have a very close relationship.”

However, several sources claim that there is some disappointment with Topolskiy in the current situation of the channel, and that unshakable trust is actually starting to be undermined. “Blavatnik intervenes in the company when things go to extremes, when such events occur, and certainly when it loses money.”

“Len is not really involved in this,” another source said. “This may be the first time that Len’s nomination has been forced on Nadav.”

Senior executives from Blavatnik’s circle responded: “This is an absurd invention. Nadav is Len’s partner in maintaining Reshet 13, they work closely together, and Nadav has Len’s absolute recognition and trust.”

Will the channel be sold?

Why is the second richest man in Britain involved in Israeli media at all? The answer to that question has implications for how Blavatnik ultimately decides to deal with the current turmoil.

When people who know him were asked about his motives for deciding to own his own media outlet, even at the cost of significant capital injections, the answers fell into three groups: Zionism, which is an expensive toy, and the belief that for a businessman, owning a media holding company can never hurt.

“Len is not a manager, he is an investor. Anyone who really knows him will tell you that he is a legendary investor. He invests in several ways: he knows how to pick assets and people, he knows how to leverage them, he knows how to use philanthropy as an effective tool to leverage his name and companies, and he leverages the media. He has incredibly successful media brands around the world, and although Reshet is part of that group, he does not benefit from it,” the informed source said.

“He likes to own the media. He thinks that even if it doesn’t help directly, it doesn’t hurt. But Len hasn’t liked injecting cash over the years. He was forced to do that during the war. He’s not going to inject cash now.”

“At the end of the day, it’s a luxury toy, like owning a football club. If this toy causes him too much headache, he’ll sell it. And there have been times in the past when he wanted to sell the company. If this comes back and the headache doesn’t go away, I think he’ll sell it,” the former Reshet 13 executive told Globes. “You have to understand that Channel 13’s losses are trivial in Blavatnik’s business terms. It’s not that he’s financially desperate, or that Channel 13’s cash hemorrhaging is affecting his business. But as a shrewd businessman, he doesn’t want to feel like he’s being cheated or robbed — he’s certainly not a failure. Business is business.”

“Ultimately, Blavatnik is a businessman, and if he gets an offer for the channel, he will sell, especially in the situation that has arisen now. Everything is for sale, especially for such businessmen,” the former executive director of Reshet told Globes. Other sources interviewed by Globes share a similar view. Another industry source added: “From what I understand, Reshet will be sold. The situation now is to improve the business in order to sell it. Get other sources of money or sell it. If you ask me what my assessment is, it will end with Eli Azur.” Azur owns The Jerusalem Post, Maariv and other media outlets.

Nevertheless, a senior media executive says: “Len has invested tens of millions of dollars in this channel over the last four years, partly to ensure that the channel can survive the Covid pandemic, survive the war. People take that for granted, but Len is not someone who likes to give up.”

Yulia Szamalov-Berkowicz responded: “When a journalistic source consists of groundless, false rumors that are part of a persecution campaign, there is no need to respond.”

Published in Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – July 3, 2024

© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.