Ep 119: Building a Global Media Empire | Justin Byam Shaw (Chairman, ESI Media - Evening Standard & the Independent; Founder, Felix Project)

Entrepreneurs must be ruthless, obsessive and willing to cut
corners.


Something that Justin Byam Shaw, Chairman of ESI
Media, would know.


He co-owns (alongside Evgeny Lebedev) the Evening
Standard & the Independent, and
also co-founded the Felix Project - one of the
biggest food redistribution charities in the UK!


If you've ever been in London, you'll notice the Evening Standard
lying around Tube stations. It's a 100% free quality newspaper
and I'd always wondered - what does it take to run it? How do you
manage to keep a newspaper free on such a scale?


Well today, Justin shares it all.


He takes us through his decision to:


Study classics at Oxford University - even when everyone told him
it was good for nothing!


Pivot from advertising - when he realised he was terrible at it


Drop out of British Telecom within 1 week of finding a market gap
to launch his own startup - at a time when it wasn't the "cool
thing" to be a founder


Buy both the Evening Standard & the Independent (alongside
the Lebedevs)


And also his thoughts on:


How George Osborne faired as Editor of the Evening Standard


How to turn around failing media companies


Launching the The i newspaper (within 7 months of acquiring the
Independent!)


The rise of superstar journalists turned media personalities


The media publication he'd be most interested in taking over
& what he'd do differently!





Highlights:


4.44 Studying "good for nothing" Classics at Oxford?!

7:18 Being bad at advertising

9:27 Moving to British Telecom when it'd just privatised

11:34 The talent show that kickstarted Justin's
entrepreneurial journey

12:38 Remortgaging his apartment?!

15:32 Expanding to 12+ countries

19:39 The tipping point

20:54 Life after acquisition

22:34 Arrogance

26:59 Being ruthless

29:00 Buying the Evening Standard

33:41 Launching The i in 7 months?!

36:38 Not going digital with the Evening Standard

38:58 Internal resistance

40:27 Appointing George Osborne as editor

45:14 What do media owners expect from their editors?

49:23 Journalists become media superstar personalities

51:59 Buzzfeed

53:05 If Justin could buy any newspaper publication, it'd
be...

55:14 The Felix Project






Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/119


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