DUBAI, 5 July 2004 — Qatar-based Arabic TV channel Al-Jazeera wants to sell shares to the public in two to three years and become profitable before that, a German newspaper reported its chief news editor as saying yesterday. “In two to three years, our shares shall be introduced at the stockmarket in Doha,” Ahmad Al-Sheikh told German business daily Handelsblatt on the sidelines of a conference in Berlin.
The channel confirmed that it was looking into the option of an initial public offering (IPO), but said it had not made a decision yet.
“I can confirm that the board of directors has commissioned a study into the viability of turning Al-Jazeera into a private enterprise by inviting investors,” a spokesman for Al-Jazeera said. “This could entail a flotation at some stage.”
Al-Jazeera won millions of viewers for its coverage of the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It now plans to extend its coverage.
