unimedia.info
UNIMEDIA, one of Moldova's pioneering and most influential news portals, was established in 2005 at unimedia.md. The platform was created by four people: Tudor Darie, Dumitru Ciorici, and brothers Vasile and Sergiu Gălușcă, through their company New Media Grup LLC.
The portal achieved recognition during the April 2009 protests against the Communist Party's parliamentary election victory. Through its continuous live coverage of these events, Unimedia emerged as one of Moldova's most-read news sources, maintaining this position for several years.
Throughout its history, Unimedia has undergone multiple changes in both ownership and editorial direction. In 2012, Dumitru Țira, then director of Publika TV and current founder of the Realitatea media group, acquired a 25 percent stake in New Media Grup LLC. While he considered purchasing an additional 45 percent, this plan never materialised. That same year, the four original founders registered the Unimedia brand under their new venture, Interact Media LLC, specifically created for the portal. The domain was also changed from Unimedia.md to Unimedia.info.
Early 2015 marked another transition as Interact Media LLC sold the portal to Miraza LLC, owned by journalist Cristian Jardan. At the time, Miraza LLC was also publishing Expresul, a regional newspaper serving the Ungheni, Călărași, and Nisporeni districts.
In 2019, journalist Olesea Banari acquired Miraza LLC and assumed the role of editor-in-chief at Unimedia. Today, the portal features various blogs, including a dedicated Political Blog section, providing a platform for politicians and political discourse.
Key Facts
| Audience Share | Missing Data |
|---|---|
| Ownership Type | Private |
| Geographic Coverage | Transnational |
| Content Type | Free |
| Data Publicly Available | ownership data is easily available from other sources, e. g. public registries etc. |
| Media Companies / Groups | SC "Miraza" |
Ownership
| Ownership Structure | Unimedia.info operates under the ownership of Miraza LLC, with Olesea Banari being both the owner and manager of the portal. |
|---|---|
| Individual Owner |
Media Companies / Groups
Facts
| Founding Year | 2005 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Tudor Darie Tudor Darie is a prominent entrepreneur and co-founder of the Unimedia portal and New Media Grup LLC. His experience includes developing several media platforms such as Privesc.eu. He is also a co-founder and partner at Interact Media SR, which owns agora.md and EA.md portals. Additionally, he was involved in the creation of the e-commerce platform zap.md, the online advertising platform Adcenter, and the IT company Sensmedia. Currently, he is the CEO and founder of Fagura, a crowdfunding lending platform operating in Romania and Moldova. Previously, Tudor worked as an Advisor on information technologies and youth policies for former Prime Minister Vlad Filat. He was also a member of the Bureau of the National Youth Council of Moldova and president of the Journalist Youth Center of Moldova. He is now the administrator of the Non-Bank Credit Organisation FAGURA MARKETPLACE Limited Liability Company and Fagura Capital LLC. Dumitru Ciorici Dumitru Ciorici, co-founder of New Media Grup LLC, and of Unimedia, where he also worked as editorial director. He is a successful entrepreneur in the media industry and co-founder and associate at Interact Media LLC, which manages agora.md and EA.md. He worked there as editorial director. Between 2021 and 2022, he was involved in the Fagura non-bank financing project established by Tudor Darie. In 2010, Dumitru was the project manager for the launch of the Publika.md and Publika TV channel . He was a member of the Press Council from 2014 to 2016 and was the executive director and president of the Centre for Young Journalists from Moldova. He is currently an author of www.dumitruciorici.com blog which he has been managing since 2008. He also runs a Telegram channel where he publishes news—primarily sourced from other outlets—and occasionally shares interviews. As of July 2024, his channel has 34,000 followers. Vasile Galușca Vasile Gălușcă is the CEO of MUVI EXPRESS, a logistics and courier company, and is listed as an administrator and founder of several other companies. Sergiu Galușca Sergiu Gălușcă is a winemaking entrepreneur. He was involved in the establishment of several major winemaking projects in the country and founded his own business, Unicorn Winery. He currently manages several wine-related projects. |
| CEO | Olesea Banari Olesea Banari, in 2019, acquired the Unimedia portal through her company Miraza LLC from journalist Cristian Jardan, becoming its sole owner and editor-in-chief. Building on Unimedia's success, she launched UNInterviu in 2020, a video interview series featuring prominent public figures and politicians. |
| Other Important People | Sergiu Banari Sergiu Banari is a businessman and a popular TikToker in the Republic of Moldova, where he promotes Russian narratives, according to a TV8 investigation. Sergiu Banari has a colorful political past. He served as a municipal councilor in Bălți for the Social Democratic Party from 2007 to 2011, during which time he organized several anti-Communist demonstrations. In 2007, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Bălți. After leaving the Social Democratic Party in September 2008, he became a leader of the "Friends of Russia in Moldova" organisation, led by former Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev. His final political venture came in 2010 when he ran as an independent candidate in the parliamentary elections, securing just 0.04% of the vote. Following his retirement from politics in 2011, Sergiu established a polygraph testing service company. Around the same time, Olesea (then Bolboceanu) founded Onlinemedia LLC, a similar company offering polygraph testing services to politicians and state officials. She works as both administrator and founder of the company. Currently, Sergiu owns Millenium Gold Standard, a jewellery manufacturing company in Bălți, operating through B&B Jewelry Group LLC. He made headlines in 2021 with an unusual promotional stunt when he threw jewellery into a crowd at one of his Chișinău stores. |
| Contact | str. Mihai Eminescu 63 Chisinau Moldova, Republic of redactie@unimedia.md +373 22 999-120/ +373 22 999-121 www.unimedia.md |
| Revenue | Missing Data |
|---|---|
| Operating Profit | Missing Data |
| Advertising (in % of total funding) | Missing Data |
| Market Share | Missing Data |