Wijeya Newspapers Limited
Wijeya Newspapers Limited (WNL), formerly known as Wijeya Publications Limited, was founded in 1979 by Ranjit Sujiva Wijewardene, also known as Ranjit Wijewardene. He is the son of well-known media owner D.R. Wijewardene. With the exception of Anandi Balasingham, all the other shareholders of the company are members of the Wijewardene family. Sarathi Limited, which is a company holding shares in WNL, is also owned by the Wijewardene family. The founder of WNL, Ranjith Wijewardene, served as the Chairperson of the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL), his father’s company, before it was nationalised in 1973. After commencing WNL, Ranjith Wijewardene launched several newspapers in Sinhala, Tamil and English: Irida Lankadeepa (1986), Sunday Times (1987), Lankadeepa (1991) and Daily Mirror (1999). Other publications owned by WNL include: Ada, Bilindu, Daily Financial Times (Daily FT), GO: Guys Only, Hi!!, LW (Lanka Woman), Mirror Sports, Pariganaka, Sirikatha, Tamil Mirror, Tharunaya, Vijey and Wijeya.
Business Form
Private
Legal Form
Limited Liability Company
Business Sectors
Publishing, TV broadcasting, real estate, tourism, recruitment consultancy
Individual Owner
Other Print Outlets
Daily Mirror (0.55%)
Daily Financial Times (Daily FT) (0.08%)
Sirikatha (3.47%)
Tharunaya (0.31%)
Deshaya (Sunday Edition) (0.22%)
Wijeya (5.95%)
Bilindu (Missing Data)
Tamil Mirror (0.17%)
Vijey (1.03%)
GO (Guys Only) (Missing Data)
Hi!! Magazine (0.02)
LW (Lanka Woman) (0.07%)
Pariganaka (0.23%)
Easy Guide (0.02)
Wijeya Braille (Missing Data)
Other TV Outlets
Hi TV (Missing Data)
Other Online Outlets
Business
Printing and publishing houses
Stamford Lake (Pvt) Limited
Lake House Printers and Publishers (Pvt) Limited
Real estate
LH Plantations (Pvt) Limited
Tourism
Ranweli Holiday Village Limited
Sarathi Tours Limited
Recruitment Consultancy
Sarathi Ltd
Technology
Wijeya Graphics (Pvt) Limited
General Information
Founding Year
1979
Affiliated Interests Founder
Ranjit Sujiva Wijewardene, also referred to as Ranjit Wijewardene, is the son of Sri Lankan media proprietor D.R. Wijewardene, who founded the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL, also known as Lake House) in 1926, prior to its nationalisation under Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s government in 1973. Ranjit serves as the founding Chairperson and majority shareholder of Wijeya Newspapers Limited. Although the company was formed in 1979 under the name of Wijeya Publications Limited, it started publishing weekly Irida Lankadeepa newspaper in 1986, and shortly afterwards the daily Lankadeepa newspaper in 1991. He also holds 0.57 percent of shares at the ANCL. In addition to holding the position of a Chairperson at Wijeya Newspapers Limited, Ranjith also serves as the Chairperson & Managing Director at Lake House Printers & Publishers Ltd., Chairperson at Lake House Bookshop Pvt Ltd., Chairperson at LH Plantations Pvt Ltd., Chairperson at Ranweli Holiday Village Ltd., Chairperson at Sarathi Ltd., Chairperson at Stamford Lake Pvt Ltd., Chairperson at Wijeya Graphics Pvt Ltd., and President at Newspaper Society of Sri Lanka. Ranjith is also on the Board of Directors at Freudenberg & Co. (Ceylon) Ltd. and R.S. Printek Pvt Ltd.
Upali Wijewardene, the founder of Upali Newspapers (Pvt) Limited, is Ranjit’s cousin. Meanwhile, incumbent Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and the Leader of the United National Party (UNP) Ranil Wickremesinghe is Ranjit’s nephew.
Ranjith Wijeywardene married Ranjini Neela Senanayake, granddaughter of D.S. Senanayake who served as the first Prime Minister of Ceylon. Other notable family members from Ranjini's family include Dudley Senanayake (uncle) the second Prime Minister of Ceylon, and Rukman Senanayake, a former Member of Parliament. Ranjit has three children, including current State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene, and Sujan Wijewardene, who is the Executive Director of Lake House Printers and Publishers Limited, a company affiliated with the Wijewardene Group Limited, Sujan Wijewardene.
Employees
Missing Data
Contact
Wijeya Newspapers Limited
No. 08, Hunupitiya Cross Road, Colombo 2
General: +9411 247 9479, +9411 231 4714
Fax: +94 11 244 8323
Website: www.wijeyanewspapers.lk
Tax/ ID Number
104081486-7000
Financial Information
Revenue (Financial Data/ Optional)
Missing Data
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)
Missing Data
Management
Executive Board
Ranjit Sujiva Wijewardene – also referred to as Ranjit Wijewardene, the Chairperson at Wijeya Newspapers Limited (WNL) and owns 89.99 percent of shares in the company. He is also the current President of the Newspaper Society of Sri Lanka. In addition to owning shares at WNL, Ranjit owns 0.57 percent of shares at the state-owned Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited.
Parakrama Sujan Wijewardene – the son of Ranjit Wijewardene, serves as the Deputy Chairperson at WNL and owns 10 percent of the shares in the company.
L. Jayawardene – Director and Board Member at WNL.
Sirisena Ranasingha – Director and Board Member at WNL.
Dulsing Visrajith Gunatunga – Director and Board Member at WNL.
Kalu arachchige Don Randev Channa Samarasinghe – Director and Board Member at WNL.
Further Information
Meta Data
The official websites of Wijeya Newspapers Limited and its publications did not contain information on the organisational structure and key individuals. As such, this information was obtained by referencing secondary sources and the information sent by the company. The ownership structure of Wijeya Newspapers Limited was re-confirmed by the information gathered from the annual returns at the Department of Registrar of Companies. The most recent data was available for the year 2017. However, since the Department does not maintain individual profiles, it is not possible to ascertain all the companies affiliated with Wijeya Newspapers Limited. While the Media Ownership Monitor research team reached out to Wijeya Newspapers Limited by formally requesting for the company’s information on 20 July 2018, the company responded to the aforementioned request on 17 August 2018. Readership data was obtained from the Kantar Lanka Market Research Bureau (LMRB) for the year 2017.
