At the beginning of the 1990s, following the collapse of the communist regime, the paper was privatized and the owners became Bertelsmann AG Germany (50%), the Free Press Foundation ("Szabad Sajtó Alapítvány" in Hungarian), a foundation of the Socialist Party (MSZP) (26%), the First Hungarian Investment Fund (16.8%), and the Editorial Staff Association (6%). In 2005, the paper was acquired by Ringier; in 2014, after the Hungarian Competition Authority prevented the merger of Ringier and Axel Springer partly because of their ownership of "Népszabadság", it was sold to Vienna Capital Partners, which created a subsidy, Mediaworks Hungary Zrt., for its Hungarian media interests. MSZP sold its shares to Mediaworks in 2015.