Badr, Member of the Board; Waleed J. Kattan, Director General; Sa'ed Al-Harithy, Chairman of the Board; Dr. Waleed Arab Hashim, Deputy Chairman of the Board; Abdullah Saleh Kamel, Member of the Board, at the General Assembly meeting of Okaz Organization for Press and Publication in Jeddah, Thursday. (Okaz photo) JEDDAH: Okaz Organization for Press and Publication has achieved record revenue of SR519 million in the fiscal year 2010. This was revealed during a meeting of the General Assembly of the organization here Thursday. The organization achieved distinctive results in all sectors and publications. The General Assembly also approved the payment of SR91.5 million as profits to the shareholders and SR11 million as bonus and other incentives to the organization employees. The organization's assets have now grown to reach over SR600 million, the General Assembly was informed. The meeting was presided over by Sa'ed Al-Harithy, Chairman of the Board of Directors. Addressing the gathering, Dr. Waleed J. Kattan, Director General of the organization, said the advertising market share of Okaz Organization was up by 16.9 percent, despite tough trading conditions. He said studies conducted by Park and Abossos companies showed that Okaz's share of the advertising market has jumped by 16.9 percent. He said the company's newspapers have not been affected by competition from Internet news media. He said the group has occupied top position in the market for seven consecutive years. He assured members of the tremendous increase in revenue from the organization's other activities. Citing an example, he said revenue generated from the websites of the organization's publications jumped to more than SR2 million in 2010 compared to SR2,000 in 2006. The organization has well-defined plans in this field. He said the organization has achieved remarkable success in the field of interactive services, with revenue of over SR5 million in 2010 compared to SR11,500 in 2006. The organization launched the “Newspaper Direct” service for Okaz/Saudi Gazette and Al-Nadi, which allows readers to get each of these papers digitally. The service is rendered in 92 countries through paid subscription. Director General Kattan said this service saves about one million riyal for the organization, which is the cost of the international editions during the summer season. He also assured members of the organization's editorial developments and its use of modern media technology. He said the organization is in the process of launching other interactive services, including the Okaz Tourist Mobile service, the Training Mobile, the Sports Club Mobile, the Tadawul Channels Service and other services. Kattan concluded that the organization is achieving its goals with net profit in January and February 2011 up by 68 percent, compared to the same period last year. He also referred to various challenges facing the print media, including increased printing costs and the development of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
