All media outlets must register with the MC and send in updated shareholder lists of both the main firms and of companies that own their shares. Thus, media ownership is public information and readily available on the MC’s website. Mergers are by law (Act no. 38/2011) notifiable to the Competition Authorities, and rulings have been quite frequent (Parliament, 2011).
Private media ownership in Iceland has been highly concentrated, especially since the end of the party press (Karlsson, 2004). However, recently, the trend of concentration has somewhat decreased. In 2017, the telecom company Sýn bought the broadcasting section of 365 media, which had until then been Iceland’s biggest private media company. The print section of 365 Media (Fréttablaðið) was then sold to Torg in 2019 (Ólafsson & Jóhannsdóttir, 2021).
Sýn is a publicly traded company with many shareholders. Seven pension funds hold 46.3 per cent of the shares, three banks hold 17.7 per cent, and a businessman and investor, Hreiðar Már Guðjónsson, owns 9.2 per cent. He is also the company’s director.
Árvakur is most prominently (64%) owned by seven companies in the fisheries industry. Two individuals with ties to the conservative party own 20 per cent and 12.3 per cent of shares, respectively, in the company. In 2008, 365 media (then owners of Channel 2, Bylgjan, Fréttablaðið, and other media outlets) and Árvakur made an agreement to merge, but this was thwarted by the Competition Authorities, as it would lead to grave competition problems. This demonstrates that competition and concentration are in fact critically monitored in Iceland; however, the same companies were allowed (with conditions) to buy a distribution company in 2018.
Torg is effectively owned by an investor and businessman, Helgi Magnússon, who holds 82 per cent of shares in the company. Additionally, 10 per cent of shares are owned by a private company and the remaining 8 per cent by two individuals.
These three private media organisations (Sýn, Torg, and Árvakur) dominate the national news media market along with the public broadcasting service RÚV.
Stundin is owned by Útgáfufélagið Stundin, which in turn is largely owned by five members of the editorial or marketing staff – in total 61 per cent of shares, but not one person owns more than around 12 per cent. The remaining shares are owned by various other individuals. None of Stundin’s owners are noticeable as owners in other media outlets.
The biggest shareholders in Kjarninn media are Hjálmar Gíslason, with 17.7 per cent of shares, and Vilhjálmur Þorsteinsson, with 17.2 per cent of shares. The company was founded by two journalists, Þórður Snær Júlíusson and Magnús Halldórsson, and they own 21.3 per cent combined, with the former also being the editor-in-chief. These and other smaller shareholders are not to be found with a stake in any other media organisations.
The media market in Iceland is small, and competition is limited in all news media sectors. As noted before, data about the media industry in Iceland are limited (Ohlsson & Facht, 2017), with several media outlets opting out of circulation audits and web traffic surveys, making the data incomplete. It is, as a result, difficult to calculate concentration ratio accurately, though it is safe to say that concentration in the television, radio, and newspaper market is very high (see Table 1). There are more competitors online, but mbl.is and visir.is tower over the others in maximum audience reach (see Table 2).
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