The board of directors of Sole 24 Ore acknowledged this morning that it had in fact lapsed after the initial resignations of president Giorgio Squinzi and four directors were joined yesterday by those of Maria Carmela Colaiacovo, president of Federturismo, who remains on the board under the extension regime. With the majority of the board missing (6 out of 11 directors), the company's extraordinary shareholders' meeting was consequently called for November 14 to renew the top management in the light of the inevitable capital increase after the new loss of almost 50 million in the first quarter of 2016 and the probable opening to new shareholders. Operations that Confindustria, the newspaper's controlling shareholder, will carry out with "determination and serenity", as the president Vincenzo Boccia said, with the intention of relaunching the editorial group and bringing it back to profit after seven years of deep red alert journalists, employees and their union representatives.
Councilor Carlo Robiglio was nominated pro-tempore president of the Sole, who will remain in office only until the assembly with Luigi Abete as deputy. Despite the attempt by Squinzi and associates to motivate the resignation "also with the informal request of the majority shareholder (ed Confindustria) to all directors to resign their mandate in the future", a reconstruction that was immediately dismantled by Boccia who had having agreed this step combined with the willingness to recapitalize, it is clear that the real battlefield at the top of the Sun was the will of the new CEO, Gabriele Del Torchio, wanted and supported by the president of Confindustria, to attack the underlying reasons for the crisis del Sole with a work of radical cleaning of the budget, the deficit of which certainly does not arise now.
In reality, since 2010 the newspaper and the other activities of the Confindustria publishing group have accumulated losses of just under 300 million euros: 40,4 in 2010; 8,3 in 2011 (after the sale of some assets); 48,4 in 2012; 76,1 in 2013; 29,5 in 2014; 24,9 in 2015 and 49,8 in the first half of this year alone. It goes without saying that on the Stock Exchange the stock, which has lost approximately 90% since its placement, has plummeted to the point of registering a capitalization of less than 22 million euros, even less than that of its competitor Class Editori.
At this point in the crisis, only a radical cure that marks a radical discontinuity with the recent past can save Il Sole from bankruptcy, until 15 years ago the goose that laid the golden eggs of the planet Confindustria, and attempt a comeback in a publishing market which remains very difficult.
The recapitalization, with respect to which President Boccia has expressed Confindustria's willingness to do its part, can only be the first step, but the trend reversal must also concern industrial and editorial strategies and push to rediscover, without , the taste for freedom and quality information. From this point of view, it would be a small but emblematic sign of the new course if the publisher were to induce Radio 24, the radio station of the Sun, to retire as soon as possible a vulgar program such as "La zanzara", which gets many listens but which does not it has absolutely nothing to do with the identity of the Sun and with its glorious tradition.
