BREAKING An organization based in New York, which manages the Dutch company Pluralis, specialized in investments in independent media, announced to the Romanian state that Pluralis intends to invest in the Romanian company that publishes HotNews. Message from the owners of HotNews to employees

The US-headquartered organization is called the Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) and describes itself as “a non-partisan investor in support of independent media around the world”. According to an email sent by HotNews shareholders to employees, the Dutch company Pluralis (which is an investment vehicle managed by MDIF) would have a minority share in the Romanian publication.

• If it is realized, the investment will be “under 2 million euros”, according to another public release from the Romanian shareholders. The Romanian shareholders did not specify how much of the company's shares this amount represents and what, therefore, is the company's financial valuation.
• The main shareholders of ZYX Publishing Group, the press group that publishes HotNews, are the businessman from the video production industry Dragoș Vîlcu, 53 years old, and the journalist Răzvan Ionescu, 52 years old.
• In an email to employees, the two shareholders stated that the contract has not been signed and is being negotiated, as the state's approval is awaited: “MDIF, an organization that invests in the independent press, based in New York, notified the Romanian state today, after discussions with us, that through the Dutch company Pluralis, it intends to invest in ZYX Publishing Group”.
• If there will be the agreement of the state and the signing of the contract will be reached, the investment will be the first, after many years, made in the media in Romania by an organization based in the USA or with Western capital.

On Friday, November 28, at the Secretariat of the Commission for the Examination of Foreign Direct Investments (CEISD), of the Competition Council, the American organization MDIF, based in New York, submitted a preliminary notification that communicates the intention of a direct investment, expected in the form of a capital increase through the company Pluralis BV from the Netherlands in the ZYX Publishing Group from Romania.

“MDIF is a New York-registered non-profit organization with 501(c)(3) public charity status. Our work takes place in countries where access to reliable news and information is threatened,” MDIF claims on its website.

MDIF made the notification to CEISD, on behalf of Pluralis, because CEISD is the authority that analyzes, from the perspective of national security, foreign investments in the Romanian economy.

The MDIF is basically the company that manages the investment that is being considered.

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Over the past three decades, MDIF has invested $327 million in 157 media companies in 50 countries, according to its own statement.

In describing its work, MDIF says: “We make investments for the common good. Because relevant, accurate and timely information is essential for free societies.”

Founded in 1995, MDIF received an initial donation of $500,000 from George Soros. In 2016, MDIF was declared an “undesirable” organization by the General Prosecutor's Office of Russia.

Who is Pluralis, the company that wants to invest in HotNews

MDIF manages several companies that invest in media. According to the HotNews shareholder email to employees, the company managed by MDIF and which intends to make a minority investment in ZYX is called Pluralis BV

Pluralis is a Dutch company specializing in media investment, which claims that “we invest to ensure an independent and dynamic press in Europe”.

At Pluralis, partners are: King Baudouin Foundation of Belgium (Belgium), media company Mediahuis (Belgium), Soros Economic Development Fund (USA), ERSTE Foundation (Austria), Tinius Trust (Norway), OAK Foundation (Switzerland) and MDIF.

In Eastern Europe, Pluralis has invested in publications in Poland, Slovakia and Croatia.

The first Western investment in the Romanian press, after a long time

If it is realized, the investment in Romania will be the first in the press, after many years, of a company managed from the USA and with Western capital.

In general, the trend of the western capital in relation to the Romanian average was the opposite. Western investments gradually withdrew from the domestic press. In 2020, the Americans from AT&T sold the ProTV group, the largest media organization in Romania, to the Czech PFF trust, owned by businessman Petr Kellner.

Two years earlier, in 2018, French group Lagardère sold Europa FM to the Czech Media Invest group, owned by Czech businessman Daniel Křetínský, in a deal that targeted the French group's media across Eastern Europe.

The departure of Western capitals from Eastern European media is wider. At the end of October 2025, the Swiss company Ringier, which also has titles in Romania, sold its Hungarian publications to a businessman close to Viktor Orban.

Vîlcu and Ionescu: They will come with less than 2 million euros and will be in the minority

Also on Friday, HotNews shareholders informed the public, through an announcement sent to several press agencies in Romania.

The announcement confirms that MDIF has sent a preliminary notification on behalf of Pluralis to the Romanian state and that discussions continue, as legal opinions are also awaited.

Dragoș Vîlcu and Răzvan Ionescu specify that “in case of realization, the investment (not the part brought by MDIF-Pluralis) will be below 2 million euros, and the money will remain as a capital increase, at the disposal of the media company, for development”.

Profit of 450,000 euros in 2024

“The most important site of the group that will receive the potential investment is HotNews, a publication that in January – October 2025 increased its number of impressions by 69% compared to the same period of the previous year”, Vîlcu and Ionescu also said.

In the shareholders' message to the editor, the first point of the announcement was: “Editorial freedom and company strength will continue to be the most important values ​​of our group.” Vîlcu and Ionescu specified that “the company that publishes HotNews had a profit rate of between 20 and 30% in each of the last 3 completed years”.

In 2024, according to public data from the Trade Registry, the net profit of Media Bit Software SRL, which publishes HotNews, was 450,000 euros on a turnover of 2.5 million euros.

HotNews, in the TOP 3 news sites in Romania and the big news site that Romanians spend the most time on

Founded in 1999, under the name RevistaPresei.ro, Hotnews.ro is a Romanian news site, created by journalists Ionel Mărgărit Timbolschi and Manuela Preoteasa.

In August 2022, HotNews was acquired by the current shareholders: Dragoș Vîlcu, founder of the video production company Multi Media Est, and journalist Răzvan Ionescu. HotNews became part of ZYX Publishing Group.

Owned by the two, ZYX Publishing Group contains the publications HotNews, Golazo, StartupCafe, Totuldespremame, LoveDeco, SmartLiving and B365 and the studio CreaZYX. Recently, ZYX announced the closure of the Panorama site.

In the Friday email, in which they announced to employees that they are dealing with MDIF and Pluralis and that they have notified the Romanian state, Vîlcu and Ionescu said: “In 2025, according to BRAT data, with a monthly average of 5.5 million unique users and 51 million impressions, HotNews is, in terms of impressions, in the Top 3 in general news sites. HotNews is the top online news publication in Romania with the higher proportion of direct traffic and the longest time spent by Romanians on the site, as a monthly average”.

The majority and control of the company will remain with the current Romanian shareholders, Vîlcu and Ionescu also said.