Dutch down to one newswire: ANP buys Novum

Dutch press service Novum will belong to ANP by the 1st of January. At this takeover, 37 of the 52 Novum employees are dismissed. The 'reorganization' is a result of "degenerative market and economic circumstances", the NRC reports. "The market has been under heavy pressure for several years. Because of that, looking for more synergy is the only way to survive", Bram Bloemberg, director of Novum Nieuws says. The takeover means that Novum and ANP will come under the head of V-Ventures, the investment company from Veronica. The loss of job positions, with just 15 personnel left, will be preempted by buying more content with third parties such as the Associated Press, Reuters and ANP. Head editor at the ANP, Marcel van Lingen, tells Elsevier that this reorganization at Novum is "the logical consequence of a consolidation in the news market."