Bauer has left the building. What next for magazines in Australia?
Bauer has sold its Australian arm to investment firm Mercury Capital, signifying the next chapter in a tumultuous few years for magazines in this country. Here, CEO of Bauer Media Australia Brendon Hill speaks to Mumbrella’s Vivienne Kelly about what the future looks like.
Are there more job losses to come? Is the carnage finally over? What will the new company be called? And what would he like to say to Bauer on their way out the door?
INTERVIEW:
Brendon Hill, CEO, Bauer Media Australia (BH)
Vivienne Kelly, editor, Mumbrella (VK)
VK: In the press release you were very upbeat about this being a new chapter and a positive for Bauer. But one of the perceptions that pervades sales to private equity is that all private equity want to to do is cut things up, slash them and sell them off. So what would be your response to the perception that this is going to be a slash and burn situation?
BH: Mercury Capital are an investment firm, and they have three big funds where they buy a lot of companies in those funds and hold them for a return – quite different to private equity.
Working in the industry for many years . ACP were very protective of the industry and its competitors. The demise for publishers like me was when we lost Network Services.
Sometimes I think more should have been done for the publishing industry to keep it afloat, like other industries.
This is just another nail in the coffin for the print media sector. The loser being the last one standing.
Good luck
Simon – Woodlands Publishing
Spin, spin, spin.
Bauer destroyed the Australian magazine industry and obliterated the only way forward; Pacific’s successful digital strategy. They ditched the whole thing and sacked the entire Pacific digital team.
What was Pacific doing so well?
90% of Pac revenue was print.
You forgot to mention how much was Bauer’s.
Chief survivor so far, Brendon Hill, says: “Mercury Capital are an investment firm … quite different to private equity.” But Mercury Capital’s website labels itself a private equity outfit where slash and burn is the way you make your profit. With so many Bauer and Pacific titles having spent a lifetime fighting over the same ground how can this nifty bit of ducking and diving end up being anything but a blood bath. Bring out your dead!
I’m tipping Bauer was super keen to cut their losses and ditch Australia. Contrary to the interviewee’s claims, I suspect competition for the assets was close to zero. At a sharp enough price, Mercury will be able to eventually engineer a profit.
It’s such a shame that you didn’t use this opportunity to ask Brendon some of the tougher questions that hundreds of former and current employees would want to know the answers to. The business logic for some of the recent decisions is understandable (albeit with upsetting results) but the way the whole situation was handled by Brendon and Bauer (and of course also by Pacific) was pathetic. This interview should have been more than an opportunity for him to praise Bauer and repeat the same rehearsed lines about the future of the company.
Reading this Four things immediately come to mind:
One, her mention of clients, team then her family, as a working mother, (mentioned again and again), why isn’t she putting family first, she should be! Sorry but the poor me attitude says it all.
Two, why can’t she promote someone in the business to do the job?
Three, you have the opportunity to ‘possibly’ earn $100,000 to $150,000! Yeah sure, I’m old enough and thankfully wise enough to know you will NEVER get the $150,000, (which reading glassdoor confirms).
Four, why the hell is wrong with Australian wines? Are NZ wines a client?
Come back in a year and interview the person who was ‘lucky’ enough to get the job, we’d all like to know.
Would be interesting to know what clients think about this, if any are prepared to voice their support or if any now cut ties as a result.
Be keen to see how this mob of financial engineers will miraculously turn around the fortunes of the declining magazine empire.
And who’s going to actually buy them out when they want to sell it off?
As previous commentator said, this is a game where the loser being the last one standing / last one to own the business before it folds
Rebrand as Pacific Media going forward?