Bankrupt publisher Mladá fronta online unit sold to Internet Into in auction

The online division of the Mladá fronta publishing house, which is in bankruptcy, sold for 15.8 million crowns in an auction on Friday, marginally above the starting price.

The buyer is Internet Info, a publisher of specialised sites about IT, the Internet, telecommunications, new technologies, business, finance, taxes, digital broadcasting and lifestyle.

Mladá fronta, which published the economic weekly Euro and other magazines, closed in December with some 400 million crowns in debt accumulated losses of almost 200 million crowns. Its books division launched around 200 new titles a year. Previous owner František Savov, who lives in London, is accused of tax fraud in the Czech Republic.