Who is James Grenon? The billionaire who spent $9m on a stake in NZME

Thursday, 6 March 2025

Who is the billionaire who took a 9% stake in NZME?

A Canadian billionaire has spent $9 million for a 9.3% shareholding in publicly-listed New Zealand media company NZME - but who is he?

Who is James Grenon?

James Grenon, also known as Jim, is a Canadian-born billionaire.

He currently lives in Takapuna, Auckland, after moving here with his partner in 2012.

The Gibbons Rd property he owns is one of the most expensive in the country with a homes.co.nz estimate of $14.6m.

Grenon purchased the property for just over $10m in 2012.

This week Grenon has made headlines after he increased his shareholding with NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB owner, New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME), to 9.3% making him one of the biggest shareholders in the company.

Grenon said he had no comment at this time on what his interest in NZME was.

A document on the NZX website disclosing the start of what’s referred to as Grenon’s “substantial holding” in NZME, states “there is no current intention to make a takeover bid”.

So how does he have so much money?

The billionaire is the founder and adviser of Tom Capital Management in Canada, which was started in 1995.

The company largely takes interest in oil and gas, financial services, manufacturing and real estate sectors, according to its website.

He was also the company director of The Centrist until August 2023. The news website said its purpose was to present “under-served perspectives”, and challenge mainstream media.

The Centrist is now owned by fellow Canadian Tameem Barakat. Barakat has featured on right-wing New Zealand social media influencer and conservative activist Chantelle Baker’s Instagram page in 2023, asking members of the public about “the state of New Zealand’s media”.

The Centrist reported it had been supporting Baker with her legal challenges against NZ media.

It supported Baker’s defamation complaint against NZ Herald and Kate Hannah of The Disinformation Project, who was quoted in NZ Herald reporting about Baker.

The NZ Herald amended the article and apologised to Baker, and paid out what she said in a TikTok video was a “significant sum of money”.

Grenon has had an interest in NZ politics, registering as a promoter with the Electoral Commission in the 2023 general election.

Baker is continuing legal proceedings on other cases, including against Stuff for alleged defamation for a portrayal in Stuff’s documentary Fire and Fury on the parliament protests in 2022, which was funded by NZ on Air.

An interest in politics?

Grenon also had an interest in NZ politics. In the 2023 general election he was registered as a promoter, which is someone who can advertise about a candidate, party or election issue.

A promoter must register with the Electoral Commission if they intend to spend more than $15,700 on election advertising.

Those spending more than $100,000 have to send returns of expenses, but Grenon did not, meaning he spent below that.

Issues with tax

In 2013 the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) obtained a jeopardy order against the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Registered Retirement Savings Plan Trust of Grenon, which allows the CRA to take immediate action to collect tax debt.

This was after Grenon withdrew CAD$55m from his Registered Retirement Savings Plan in February of 2013 and transferred it to New Zealand, the Federal Court of Canada ruling from 2015 says.

He also withdrew another $15 million and placed it in a high interest account, the court document said.

Stuff owner and publisher Sinead Boucher pictured addressing a Parliamentary Select Committee.

The CRA issued two sequential proposal letters against the Trust for $283 million and against Grenon personally for $205 million.

The Federal Court later set aside the jeopardy order and awarded costs to both the Trust and Grenon with it ruling there was no evidence there was a danger that the Trust would be hollowed out.

So does he have his eye on other media outlets?

The Spinoff chief executive Amber Easby said the media company had not been approached regarding acquisition or investment by Grenon.

Newsroom co-editor Mark Jennings said the company became aware of Grenon’s general interest in media five years ago via third parties.

“But there were no detailed discussions about a shareholding or investment in Newsroom,” he said.

Stuff also asked questions of its owner and publisher Sinead Boucher.

When asked specifically about Grenon and whether he’d made an approach about investing, Boucher said Stuff would “never comment on whether we had been approached, or not, by a potential investor.”

But Boucher was prepared to comment on the issue of investment more broadly.

She revealed rejecting “a number” of such approaches since buying Stuff from Australia’s Nine Entertainment for $1 in May 2020, citing editorial independence as a non-negotiable.

“On the subject of media investors generally, however, we have seen how the rise of billionaire ownership of news organisations is of concern for an independent and free press, whose role is to hold power to account. This is starkly obvious in the United States now where business owners are openly influencing and directing newsrooms, as Jeff Bezos is by instructing the Washington Post to promote ‘personal liberties and free markets,’” Boucher said.

“Since undertaking the Stuff MBO [management buyout] almost five years ago, I have had a number of approaches from potential investors where it became clear that their real intention was to shape the news agenda in pursuit of their own interests or political beliefs. Those conversations quickly came to an end as this was not, and never would be, acceptable to Stuff Group. Our editorial independence and integrity remains sacrosanct.”