Pulse Africa, one of Ringier's portfolio companies, is looking to set up a team in Uganda for its Pulse UG. This is according to Leonard Stiegeler's LinkedIn post looking for "the best UPCOMING digital, video and social EDITORS / BLOGGERS and CONTENT PRODUCERS".
Leonard is the current General Manager of Ringier Africa AG. He has spent this entire week in Uganda meeting and interviewing various prospects. It is not clear whether they will hire a team, invest in an existing media company or acquire one of the blogs in Uganda.
Though, based on what happened between Ringier and Ghafla, an acquisition wouldn't be an option to be considered.
My conversation with Leonard also indicated that he was more inclined to hire an editor to manage the Ugandan office. Though, there's also a chance that they might be interested in an acquisition of a lifestyle and entertainment blog. Big Eye, by Ian Ortega, would potentially be the one to target.
According to the Ringier Africa AG CrunchBase profile, they have so far made six acquisitions. These include Nigeria's DealDey, Jobberman and Cheki and Kenya's BrighterMonday and BuyRentKenya as well as One Africa Media Group. All these were e-Commerce acquisitions, none in media.
So, in case they do make one, it would be their first given their first attempt with Kenya's Ghafla wasn't unsuccessful and led to them launching Pulse Live Kenya.
Ringier presents itself as the "modern media group with an integrated and diversified value creation chain." The company's current strategy is based "not only on media but also on e-commerce and entertainment."