15min
15min is one of the largest news websites in Lithuania, and is owned by Estonian media company Postimees Grupp. The website attracts over one million unique users per month and is led by CEO Ramūnas Šaučikovas.
15min was founded in 2005 as a free daily newspaper published in Vilnius, Kaunas, and Klaipėda and was distributed in public buses, streets, and some cafés. In December 2011, it became a weekly newspaper circulating in seven Lithuanian cities. The newspaper was closed in 2013 as the company decided to concentrate its operations on digital platforms only.
In May 2016, 15min disabled anonymous comments, starting an "Internet Hygiene" movement. In 2016, 15min introduced a paywall to ad-blockers.
15min is known for its explanatory journalism and investigative journalism and was an official partner of the Panama Papers investigation team.
In March 2019, in conjunction with the Sarajevo-based Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, 15min broke a story regarding a nearly $9 billion global money laundering scheme allegedly constructed by Sberbank CIB. The scheme is known as ŪkioLeaks or Troika Laundromat.
