Stuff Group acquires Wairarapa Times-Age newspapers and website
Wednesday, 15 May 2024
Stuff Group has acquired the Wairarapa Times-Age Newspaper, website and associated publications from National Media Limited.
Stuff Group, publisher of this masthead, announced the acquisition on Wednesday morning, shortly after staff in the Wairarapa Times-Age offices in Masterton were told.
Stuff Group said in a statement that it would retain the paper’s local leadership, journalists and a commercial team in Masterton while “bringing the title closer to its neighbouring Stuff local mastheads the Manawatū Standard and the Taranaki Daily News”.
No details about price have been revealed. According to the Wairarapa Times-Age website it currently employs 38 people across the Wairarapa. National Media Limited will retain a magazine called New Zealand Memories.
“This has been a challenging time for a standalone publication. The way audiences are consuming local news is changing and Stuff’s scale and experience in delivering great journalism, in the formats that audiences want, is second to none,” National Media Ltd owner Andrew Denholm said.
“I’m delighted that Stuff has added the Wairarapa Times-Age to its regional footprint and am confident we are in very good hands,” he said.
It is the latest move in a round of consolidations within the nation’s newspaper publishing industry, after NZME announced that it was buying the Gisborne Herald and Sun Media in the Bay of Plenty in early March. The Wairarapa Times-Age has a current content-sharing with NZME that will almost certainly end as a result of the deal.
It is the latest move in a busy period for Stuff Group.
The company was bought off Australian media company Nine Entertainment by now owner and publisher Sinead Boucher almost four years ago. The company also owns The Post, The Press and Waikato Times along with stuff.co.nz plus a swag of regional titles around the country. In a subscriber-led play in April 2023 the mastheads were spun into a separate business and put behind a paywall and in April this year it struck a deal with Warner Bros Discovery to produce its 6pm news bulletin.
Denholm, whose company National Media Limited purchased the paper from APN News & Media (now NZME) in 2016, will continue to work for the company. In 2022 it was named regional newspaper of the year.
Stuff Group chief executive Laura Maxwell said in a statement that the acquisition would bring Stuff’s scale, support systems and broad commercial opportunities to the Masterton-based business while ensuring strong local journalism and a deep connection to the community remained.
“We are particularly pleased that owner Andrew Denholm will join Stuff in a new role, continuing to drive the success of the WTA locally,” she said.
The Wairarapa Times-Age has a news site, daily and weekly newspapers and weekly real estate publication. It also has a midweek community title delivered to 20,000 homes. All are being acquired by Stuff Group.
“Over the past year we have been reviewing our footprint across the country, launching new digital subscriptions for The Post, The Press, The Waikato Times and our regional mastheads and creating a more cohesive community network tightly aligned to local needs,” Stuff Masthead Publishing Managing Director Joanna Norris said.
“We love being able to support local journalism in Wairarapa with this acquisition and retain a strong commercial presence with the ability to deliver wider reach through our rural and real estate offerings, she said.
Stuff’s advertising boss, Brand Connections managing director Matt Headland said that the acquisition would buttress the position of the company’s rural and regional brands which include NZ Farmer - New Zealand’s largest rural publication - and Homed real estate publications.
“Adding the Wairarapa Times-Age to our regional, real estate and rural masthead portfolio strengthens Stuff’s leading position in the lower North Island,” he said.
“Combine that with Stuff’s unrivalled digital audience on stuff.co.nz and you have a compelling commercial proposition for national and local commercial partners alike,” he said.
The Wairarapa Times-Age came into being in 1938 with a merger between the Daily Times and the Age. The newly merged paper moved to a purpose-built Art Deco-inspired building on the corner of Chapel and Perry Streets in Masterton.
According to the paper’s website it was acquired by Wilson & Horton Newspaper group in July 2002, which was then bought by APN News & Media, now NZME. In 2016 it returned to Wairarapa ownership when bought by Denholm’s Masterton-based company National Media Limited.