Atmedia Kft., an advertising sales house that sells airtime and online inventory for Hungary’s public media and several commercial broadcasters, has changed owners. A company founded in October has acquired the 100 per cent stake from the holdings of businessman Mészáros Lőrinc, according to the Hungarian media outlet Media1, whose report was carried by Economx on Thursday.
Who bought it
The buyer is Sales Division CEE Kft., registered as SD CEE Invest Kft., which company records show was set up on 21 October and is wholly owned by businessman Simon Dénes Ferenc. Hungarian outlets, including Media1, 444.hu and HVG, describe Simon as a former business partner and confidant of Puch László, a former treasurer of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP). Media1 reported that Simon’s earlier business interests included the company that owned the newspapers Népszava, Szabad Föld and Vasárnapi Hírek. The 444.hu news site noted that the announcement was published on LinkedIn on Thursday.
In its statement, the company said it would continue with unchanged management under a new ownership structure, and that it intended to build on its “experienced management, stable market position and diverse media portfolio”.
What Atmedia sells
Atmedia’s portfolio covers advertising sales for public media (közmédia) as well as commercial television channels, radio stations and websites. Economx and Media1 list TV2, ATV, Network4, HírTV, BBC Studios and Rádió 1 among the outlets whose advertising space it handles. Media1 also lists the media services company MSC.
Differing revenue figures
Economx, citing an earlier report, said Atmedia raised its revenue to HUF 54.9 billion last year while its after-tax profit fell from HUF 1.08 billion to HUF 648 million. Other coverage of the same sale gives a higher figure: Forbes.hu and HVG put the Atmedia Group’s 2025 revenue at HUF 57 billion, while 24.hu said 55 billion. The outlets do not explain whether the difference reflects the company or the wider group, and Daily Lens has not been able to establish which basis is correct. No purchase price has been published.
Political context
Mészáros Lőrinc is a businessman whose holdings expanded greatly during the 16 years in power of Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party. That era ended in April 2026, when Péter Magyar’s Tisza party won a landslide election. Magyar has been prime minister since 9 May 2026, and Orbán and Fidesz are now in opposition.
Neither Economx nor Media1 alleges illegality, corruption or a political motive in the sale, and this article makes no such allegation. The transaction is reported here as a media-ownership change that places an advertising house closely tied to public media in new hands. The political associations of the seller and of the buyer’s owner are included because Hungarian outlets have reported them, not because any impropriety has been established.
What to watch
Atmedia’s next published accounts, and any statement from the new owner on strategy, will show whether the change of control affects its advertising contracts. The reports seen by Daily Lens do not name any other investor in the buying company, and the price paid has not been disclosed.
Sources: Economx; Media1; 444.hu; HVG; Forbes.hu; 24.hu; BBC News; Euronews.
Image: Globetrotter19, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File photo — an MTVA, Hungary’s public media, outside-broadcast van in Budapest.