 | |
| Industry | News agency |
|---|---|
| Founded | 8 March 1920 |
| Founder | Juozas Eretas |
| Headquarters | Vilnius,Lithuania |
Key people | Vytautas Bruveris (editor-in-chief) |
| Revenue | 1.0 million € (2024)[1] |
| Owner | UAB Delfi |
| Parent | Ekspress Grupp |
| Website | www |
ELTA is aLithuaniannews agency based inVilnius, Lithuania. In a day, it receives about 5,000 news articles and produces about 300 articles in Lithuanian, with translations to English and Russian. ELTA cooperates with foreign news agencies such asReuters,Associated Press,Deutsche Presse-Agentur,Polish Press Agency and others.[2] The agency’s Lithuanian name isLietuvos telegramų agentūra (“Lithuanian Telegraph Agency”). In Lithuanian sources the acronymELTA is often expanded asEreto Lietuvos telegramų agentūra (“Eretas’ Lithuanian Telegraph Agency”), referencing its founderJuozas Eretas.[3]
ELTA was founded in March 1920 inKaunas, thetemporary capital of Lithuania, byJuozas Eretas, the first director of the agency, a literature professor,publicist, and public figure of Swiss descent who sought to make the ELTA news wire as efficient and reliable as a "Swiss watch".
Juozas Eretas became connected to Lithuania through Lithuanian students at Fribourg University in late 1917, recommended by the pro-Lithuanian professorGustav Šniurier.[4]
ELTA was founded based on Lithuanian press bureaus that were established in Switzerland, Denmark, France, Sweden, Germany duringWorld War I. The agency was owned by theMinistry of Foreign Affairs.[2]
Between 1920 and 1940, ELTA cooperated closely with the most prominent foreign agencies – its fiveteleprinters used to send news fromReuters (UK),DNB (Germany),Havas (France),Stefani (Italy) andTASS (Soviet Union). ELTA also employed correspondents inBerlin andMoscow.[2]
When Soviet troopsoccupied Lithuania in 1940, ELTA was incorporated into TASS and relayed news from Moscow. Lithuanians who escaped the Soviet occupation established a free ELTA Information Bureau in Berlin in 1944, headed byAntanas Valiukėnas. TheSupreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania (VLIK) published various ELTA bulletins in Lithuanian, German, Italian, English, Spanish and Portuguese.[2]
From 1953, a bulletin in German called ELTA-Pressedienst began to be published inReutlingen; from 1954 – in Italian in Rome called ELTA Press; from 1956 – in New York in English called ELTA Information Service; from 1961 – inBuenos Aires in Spanish.
In 1965, the agency's Information Service, led by the VLIK and supported by the National Fund, was moved from Germany to theUnited States of America, with branches remaining in Munich and Rome. Agency bulletins were published periodically in Lithuanian, English, Italian and German, and aperiodically in Spanish, Portuguese, and French in Brazil, Italy, France, Venezuela, West Germany, and the United States.[5]
WhenLithuania restored independence in 1990, ELTA also re-established its independence fromTASS and its direct contacts with the leading global agencies. In 1996, ELTA was partially sold by thegovernment of Lithuania (the law required the government to retain at least 35% of the shares). In 2003,MG Baltic owned 50.86% andAchema Group owned 6.75% of the shares.[6] Companies controlled byVitas Tomkus [lt], publisher of the dailyRespublika, acquired about 60% of ELTA in 2005. In 2006,Algirdas Pilvelis [lt], publisher of the dailyLietuvos aidas, acquired 39.51% of shares that were owned by the government.[7]
In August 2017,Gitana Markovičienė announced plans to purchase the controlling stake in ELTA and became the new CEO.[8] The deal for the purchase of 80% of the shares closed in February 2018.GM Media Invest, owned by Markovičienė, acquired the remaining 20% of shares in January 2020 to become the sole owner of ELTA.[9]
In 2022,Delfi news portals owned by the Estonian ASEkspress Grupp bought all ELTA shares.[10] According to Ekspress Grupp's 2023 annual report, the acquisition of ELTA (along with news portalLrytas) contributed significantly to the company's revenue growth, with 72 employees transferred from the acquired companies.[11]
ELTA directors were:[2]
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