Media mogul ups IN&M stake

TONY O’Reilly, the billionaire chief executive officer of Independent News & Media, spent €4.3 million exercising an option to buy shares in the company, increasing his stake to 26.4%.

Mr O’Reilly bought 2.65m shares and now holds 199.4m shares, Dublin-based Independent News said yesterday.

Based on the stock’s closing price on April 12 in Dublin, the shares were valued at about €6.76m.

Shares of Independent News fell 2 cents, or 0.8%, to €2.55 in Dublin yesterday. The stock is down 1.6% in the last 12 months.