THE owner of the Belfast Telegraph, Sunday Life and Sunday World newspapers has bought a car website from the Auto Trader Group for €30 million (£26m).
Mediahuis Ireland, which also owns the Irish Independent, has acquired Webzone Limited, which trades in the Republic under the Carzone brand.
The Dublin based web retailer is the second largest automotive marketplace in the Republic.
Auto Trader said Carzone contributed £4.9m to its group revenue for the year ended 31 March 2022.
Mediahuis already owns two Irish online car retail websites.
The deal comes just four weeks after the Belgian media group announced the closure of its printing operation in Newry.
The Irish News-owned print operation Interpress has signed a heads of agreement with Mediahuis to take on the printing of the Belfast Telegraph from the start of 2023.
Commenting on the Carzone deal, Auto Trader’s chief executive, Nathan Coe, said: "Carzone has been part of the Auto Trader Group for nearly 20 years, and I want to thank the whole Carzone team for their hard work during that time.
“We remain focused on our strategy in the UK, which is to grow our marketplace and establish the products and technology to enable retailers to do more of the car buying journey online, on Auto Trader."
