For 66 years, the Nation Media Group was Aga Khan territory. The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development built East African Newspapers from a regional print operation into the continent’s largest independent media group — 30-plus brands, print and digital, reaching 62 million users across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. That era ended on March 10, when AKFED announced it had agreed to sell its 54.08% controlling stake to Taarifa Ltd, a holding company owned by Tanzanian billionaire Rostam Azizi. The price was not disclosed, but NMG’s shares were trading at KSh 13.25 the day the deal was announced, implying a controlling-stake transaction worth approximately KSh 1.23 billion — around $9.5 million at current exchange rates.
That number, modest for a company with 62 million digital users, tells most of the NMG story: this is a media business under significant financial pressure being transferred to a new owner at a price that reflects the state of the African media industry as much as the state of the asset.
Who Is Rostam Azizi?
Rostam Azizi is not a typical media buyer. Born in the Igunga district of Tanzania in 1960, he built his wealth primarily in telecommunications. He once owned approximately 18% of Vodacom Tanzania, selling a 17.2% stake in 2014 for around $250 million (Bloomberg, 2014) and exiting his remaining position by 2019. Henley & Partners named him East Africa’s sole dollar billionaire in 2022. His current portfolio includes MIC Tanzania (parent of Tigo Tanzania and Zantel), Taifa Gas Group, and Caspian Mining, alongside real estate in Dubai and Oman.
What makes the NMG acquisition structurally interesting is Azizi’s prior history with the company itself. In 2000, he co-founded Mwananchi Communications Limited, establishing three Tanzanian newspapers: Mwananchi, The Citizen, and Mwanaspoti. Those publications were subsequently acquired by Nation Media Group during its regional expansion. Azizi is, in a sense, buying back into an institution that absorbed his first media venture. He also served in Tanzania’s parliament from 1994 to 2011 and as CCM National Treasurer from 2005 to 2007 — a profile that combines business interests with deep political connectivity across the region.
Through Taarifa Ltd, Azizi is acquiring 92.6 million ordinary NMG shares. The Capital Markets Authority had already granted NPRT Holdings Africa Limited — AKFED’s NMG vehicle — an exemption from making a mandatory takeover offer to remaining shareholders in September 2025, clearing one of the key regulatory preconditions for the transaction. Taarifa has confirmed it does not contemplate a full buyout of remaining shareholders and does not intend to delist the company from the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
The NMG Business: The Gap Between Users and Revenue
Nation Media Group’s 62 million digital users represent genuine reach. The group operates across newspapers (Daily Nation, The EastAfrican, Daily Monitor, The Citizen), radio, television, and digital properties. By African media standards, it is a significant institution — with editorial influence over policy conversations across four countries.
The financial picture is harder. NMG reported a pre-tax loss of KSh 253.6 million in 2024, on revenue of KSh 6.2 billion — down 12.5% year-over-year (Nation Media Group FY2024 financial results). Print advertising and circulation, which once anchored the group’s economics, are in structural decline. Digital revenue grew 11% in 2024, a meaningful positive signal, but has not yet scaled to offset the losses on the legacy side of the business. The company is caught in the same transition that is remaking media economics globally: the audience is moving online, and the revenue is following more slowly.
AKFED stated publicly that it is “confident NMG will continue to uphold the values of independent journalism” under new ownership. Azizi’s representatives indicated plans to support digital growth initiatives during the transition period. Whether that support takes the form of capital injection, operational restructuring, or strategic partnerships remains to be seen. NMG needs a credible plan for converting digital traffic into sustainable digital revenue — a problem every legacy media group in the world is wrestling with, and one that very few have solved.
The Strategic Read
The transaction raises questions that go beyond the balance sheet. Nation Media Group is not just a commercial entity; it is East Africa’s editorial institution of record. The Daily Nation in particular has functioned as a watchdog for Kenyan public life for decades. Who controls that voice — and what interests that owner brings to editorial decisions — matters in ways that a mining or gas acquisition does not.
Azizi’s combination of business interests across Tanzania, his telecommunications background, and his political history create a profile that is materially different from that of an institutional media owner like AKFED, which structured its ownership explicitly around editorial independence as a founding principle. That does not mean NMG’s editorial standards will change. It means the question is worth asking — and watching.
From a pure business strategy perspective, the acquisition follows the logic of consolidation. African media is fragmented, digital transformation is accelerating, and the companies with capital and distribution reach to invest through the transition will emerge owning dominant positions. If Azizi’s ambition is to build a pan-East-African media holding entity — combining Mwananchi Communications’ Tanzanian properties with NMG’s Kenyan, Ugandan, and Rwandan reach — this is a foundational acquisition. NMG at a $9.5 million implied market value is, by any historical comparison, an inexpensive entry point.
What Happens Next
The deal requires regulatory approvals, which are expected to take three to four months. Once complete, Rostam Azizi will control East Africa’s largest independent media group — one that reaches 62 million people and operates in four countries — at a valuation that reflects the deep financial pressures bearing down on traditional media. The Aga Khan’s departure after 66 years closes one chapter of East African media history. The new chapter depends on whether Azizi can find a viable business model for an institution whose influence has always exceeded its economics.
— Business Reporter, BETAR.africa
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