by Roger Field – businessweekme.com – The media unit of Lebanese conglomerate Group Murr is preparing to launch a pan-Arab newspaper and website this year, the company’s Group CEO, Elias El Murr, told Bloomberg Businessweek Middle East. Group Murr, which successfully relaunched Lebanese daily newspaper Al Joumhouria in 2011, is making an initial investment of about $40 million in the new pan-Arab publication and plans to hire about 300 people to work on it. The publication will also benefit from existing resources in Group Murr’s media unit in Lebanon. The publication will be headquartered in Lebanon with satellite offices in countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, U.A.E. and Kuwait. “In this expansion we are starting with $40 million in financing because we already have 80% of the expenses covered in Lebanon, as 70-80% of the material will be treated in Lebanon,” El Murr said. “This will make us very competitive because the operating costs are around 60-70% lower in Lebanon than in other parts of the world.”

While declining advertising revenues in print media may make Group Murr’s new business proposition look tough, El Murr believes he can make it work. “There are practically only two competitors in the pan-Arab world, so we will begin as the number three player and work to get a better place in the next few years,” he said. Furthermore, he pointed to research that estimates the value of the pan-Arab advertising market at more than $2 billion. “Even if you get just 1% it is worth $20 million; if you have 2% it’s $40 million and if you have 5% it’s more than enough to cover all of your expenses and make a profit,” El Murr said. Group Murr bought Lebanese daily Al Joumhouria in 1986 when the paper was bordering on bankruptcy and relaunched it in 2011. By 2017 Al Joumhouria was ranked by IPSOS as the number one newspaper by readership in Lebanon.