Manila, Philippines – Local property development firm MRC Allied has announced that it will be purchasing a majority stake at Rappler Holdings Corporation (RHC), the principal owner of digital news organisation Rappler.
In a stock filing by the company dated April 4, MRC Allied said that it will purchase the 31.20% ownership interest from venture capital holding firm Dolphin Fire Group. With this, MRC Allied will become RHC’s largest stakeholder.
According to MRC Allied, the majority stake purchase will allow to expand to a growing local digital online platform industry.
The rest of RHC’s ownership falls under co-founder and CEO Maria Ressa (23.77%), tech incubator Hatchd Group (17.86%), angel investor Benjamin So (17.86%) as well as other minority stake holders.
Rappler’s ownership came under fire back in 2022 when the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ordered the platform to shut down due to “violation of constitutional and statutory restrictions on foreign ownership in mass media.”
It is worth noting that SEC previously stated that the news organisation violated the constitutional and statutory foreign equity restrictions in mass media when it issued Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) that granted Omidyar Network, a foreign entity, control over the media organisation.
