Onexim Group, a company controlled by Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov, is in talks to buy Kommersant publishing house, Onexim's director general Dmitry Razumov said on Tuesday.
Razumov confirmed talks were held with Kommersant's billionaire owner, Alisher Usmanov, in a phone interview with the Dozhd television channel.
A source at the Onexim told RIA Novosti that Prokhorov's company would make an offer on Wednesday.
Prokhorov, who ranks third on the Forbes list of Russia’s richest people, announced on Monday his plans to challenge Vladimir Putin in March 2012 presidential elections.
Kommersant publishing house is one of the biggest, oldest and most respected Russian news organizations. It was acquired by Usmanov, a metals tycoon with close ties to state-owned gas giant Gazprom, in 2006.
The publishing house’s director general, Demyan Kurdyavtsev, told RIA Novosti he was “sure” that should Prokhorov make an offer to purchase Kommersant, its stakeholders would consider the proposal.
“I don’t know what their response will be, and it’s not my prerogative to give them advice,” he said, adding: “But I believe that Mikhail Prokhorov has not proved his effectiveness as a media owner.”
Russian media reported earlier on Tuesday that Usmanov had fired the holding's CEO Andrey Galiev and editor-in-chief of the Kommersant Vlast magazine Maxim Kovalsky after they published photos containing offensive remarks targeting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Usmanov, the owner of a minority interest in Britain's Arsenal FC, said the decision to publish the photos was "comparable to hooliganism.”
