Orban's media strategist offers companies to the state

One of the most influential media players in Hungary, whose companies profited from lucrative state contracts for years during the term of the outgoing government, has offered to hand over his companies and part of his investments to the state when the new government takes office.

Đula Balaši, the owner of several leading media companies that have been designing government campaigns for more than a decade, made this surprising offer in a video interview published late Monday on the Kontroll portal.

This was reported by Reuters, stating that this is the first significant turn of events by one of the leading businessmen close to the government of Viktor Orban, who lost power after 16 years in elections last month.

Peter Magar, leader of the center-right opposition party, Tisa, who will be sworn in as prime minister on May 9, promised to review state contracts, crack down on corruption, and “return stolen state property.” That was the key message of the campaign that brought his party a landslide victory.

"I am offering the Hungarian state a group of companies that I have been building for 22 years, which currently handle event organization, communications, and media space leasing for the state and government," Balasi told Kontroll.

"I am not doing this because I have something to hide, nor because we have done something illegal or wrong, but because I believe that the work we have done for the state goes beyond the framework of commercial communication and therefore has a place in the public sector budget."

Campaigns that shaped the election

Reuters reports that Balashi's companies designed Orban's election campaign against Ukraine, in which the April elections were presented as a choice between war and peace, as well as numerous other campaigns, including anti-immigrant ones.

Balashi claims that his companies have won state contracts through “fully transparent” tenders. He also said that the accounts of several of his companies were frozen last Monday, but did not specify which institution did so.

The Hungarian briefly commented on the interview on Facebook, saying, with an allusion to Orban's allies, that "this system could collapse much faster than anyone thinks."

Mark Radnaji, vice-president of the Tisa party, said: "This is the man we knew as Fidesz's billboard maker and who has practically dominated the entire state communications market for the last eight years."

"Let's not forget that this money did not come from the market - it was paid for by us, the citizens of Hungary... nothing will be forgotten," he added.

According to Opten, Balasi's company New Land Media generated revenue of 85 billion forints ($273 million) in 2024, up from 70 billion in 2020, while net profit rose to around nine billion from three billion. His other main company, Lounge Design, saw net revenue jump to 26,3 billion forints, up from 10 billion in the same period, while net profit quadrupled to 4,25 billion, up from 1,4 billion in 2020.

Transparency International stated that Balasi's companies Lounge Design, New Land Media and Media Dynamics received state contracts worth a total of 295 billion forints in the period 2019–2021 alone, mostly from the National Communications Office, which was in charge of Orbán's campaigns and played a key role in his previous election victories.

“The number of contracts awarded to Baláši’s companies increased significantly – from zero to around 150 per year during Orbán’s rule, between 2012 and 2025,” according to a report by the Hungarian Corruption Research Center (CRCB) dated April 10, 2026.