Express.com.pk
Like all early online news platforms in Pakistan, www.express.com.pk was originally meant for taking Urdu daily Express to a foreign audience. Gradually, as technologies evolved and readership habits changed, these platforms have taken a life of their own by providing breaking news as well as web-exclusive contents and cross-links to other associated web platforms – in this case to www.tribune.com.pk, www.express.pk and food.tribune.com.pk among others.
Still their editorial policies and the focus of their contents closely follow the print publications they are associated with. This is why www.express.com.pk looks and reads like a digital mirror image of daily Express. Just like the newspaper, the website has a conservative political and social stance, a pro-market ideology and a supportive ethos towards the security and intelligence agencies. Also, like all other Express Media Group publications, it is known for censoring its contents massively for various political, social and religious reasons.
Audience Share
2.72%
Ownership Type
Private
Geographic Coverage
International
Content Type
Free Content
Media Companies / Groups
Express Media Group
Ownership Structure
www.tribune.com.pk is owned by Express Digital Private Limited, 33.33% shares of which are owned by Sultan Ali Lakhani. The remaining shares in the company are owned by Bilal Ali Lakhani (33.33%) and Aijaz-ul-Haque (33.33%) who is serving as a director in several Express Media Group companies.
Voting Rights
Missing Data
Individual Owner
Group / Individual Owner
Aijaz-ul-Haque
Aijaz-ul-Haque serves as a director in several of Express media and Lakson Group and companies. He is the Chief Operating Officer at Express Digital Private Limited and managing editor of Daily Express.
General Information
Founding Year
2012
Affiliated Interests Founder
born in 1948 in Gondia, a town in what is now India’s Maharashtra state. His family subsequently moved to Karachi where his father Hassanali Karabhai set up a business in 1954. Over time, this business would expand and become Lakson Group which is now one of the largest commercial and industrial conglomerates in Pakistan.
Sultan Ali Lakhani worked as the group’s chairman till 1988 and is serving as its advisor presently. He is also the chief executive officer of Express Media Group which is wholly owned by Lakson Group and includes Television Media Network Private Limited (that owns and runs some television channels including Express News and Express Entertainment), Express Publications Private Limited (which owns and runs Urdu language daily Express, English language daily Express Tribune and Sindhi language daily Sindh Express), and Express Digital Private Limited (which runs three major news websites – www.express.com.pk, www.express.pk and www.tribune.com.pk – among others).
Sultan Ali Lakhani has been serving as the honorary consul of Mexico in Pakistan since long. He dabbled in politics too and remained a member of Senate, the upper house of Pakistan’s parliament, between 1988 and 1994 as a representative of a center-right party, Pakistan Muslim League. He once also famously pleaded guilty of committing bank fraud after he was arrested in 2000 by the National Accountability Bureau and kept in detention for nine months.
Affiliated Interests Ceo
is the CEO of Express Media Group and of Lakson Group. See above for more.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
graduated from Punjab University’s mass communication department in 1988 and started his journalism career in 1989 as a trainee sub-editor at Urdu language daily Nawa-i-Waqt in Lahore. Over the next decade, he became its news editor.
In 2002, he quit Nawa-i-Waqt and joined daily Express, also as news editor. Only a year later, he became the editor of the newspaper and was elevated to the post of group editor after Express Media Group launched other news platforms.
Affiliated Interests other important people
He is the chief operating officer of www.express.com.pk and the managing editor of daily Express. Apart from that, he is also serving as a director in several companies associated with Express Media Group.
Contact
Plot No.5, Express Way, Off Korangi Road, Karachi
Tel.: +92 (0)-21-35800051-8
Fax: +92 (0)-21-35800050; -5803835
Website: www.express.com.pk
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
USD 1.66 Million / PKR 186.56 Million
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
USD 0.63 Million / PKR 71.28 Million
Advertising (in % of total funding)
USD 1.66 Million / PKR 186.56 Million (100%)
Market Share
Missing Data
Further Information
Meta Data
The outlet was sent information request on 15 January 2019 through a courier company as well as by email. It did not respond even after a reminder was couriered on 1st February 2019 and emailed on 4 February 2019. No verified online information is available about its ownership structure and its financial status.
The financial information used in this media outlet profile has been obtained from a report that Express Digital Private Limited submitted to the SECP about the financial year that started on July 2017 and ended on June 30, 2018. An average exchange rate (112.43) of the Central Bank of Pakistan for 2017-2018 was used to convert PKR into USD.
The revenue and profit mentioned above also pertain to the whole of Express Digital Private Limited (which also owns some other news websites) and not to www.express.com.pk alone.
An interview was conducted with Noman Qureshi on 26 March 2019.