The former owners of The Art Newspaper and L’Officiel are embroiled in legal disputes with the Hong Kong-based AMTD Group, alleging they have not received full payment for the sale of their publications. Russian publisher Inna Bazhenova, who sold The Art Newspaper for an estimated $16–17 million, and the Jalou family, former owners of L’Officiel, claim that AMTD owes significant buyout funds despite the media brands being used to anchor high-profile IPOs on the New York and London stock exchanges. Bazhenova specifically alleges that shares provided as part of the payment have been 'parked and frozen' by a brokerage linked to AMTD, preventing her from accessing her capital.
This case highlights the increasing financialization of art media and the risks associated with the consolidation of cultural assets by opaque global conglomerates. As AMTD’s chairman Calvin Choi faces regulatory bans and accusations of misconduct from previous institutional backers, the stability and independence of a primary record of the art market—The Art Newspaper—is called into question. The discrepancy between the acquisition prices and the significantly higher valuations reported in IPO filings suggests a aggressive strategy of asset inflation that could impact the broader art media landscape.