Kiwis uneasy as Canadian billionaire makes play for media control
Duncan Greive, founder of NZ creative agency Daylight and current affairs site The Spinoff, explores a shareholder mutiny at one of NZ’s biggest media companies, driven by a Canadian billionaire with seemingly strong views on trans rights, vaccines and the Treaty of Waitangi. This is a cross post from The Spinoff.
A couple of weeks ago NZME – a media company that counts the NZ Herald, Newstalk ZB, BusinessDesk, and a host of radio and entertainment brands among its holdings – held its annual results presentation for shareholders. The hour was dominated by news that its property portal OneRoof might be separated for sale. But there was a slide that seemed incongruous early on:
It called to mind the recent edict from the Washington Post’s owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, that the paper’s opinion department would focus on “personal liberties and free markets” – a seemingly anodyne statement that concealed a major reorientation. The “new tone for New Zealand” seemed bland, and the goals corporate platitudes – “helping New Zealand thrive”; “sharing stories of success”; “build positive momentum for all New Zealanders”. Yet they set alarm bells ringing among some observers.
Rightly so. Earlier this week news broke that James Grenon, a Canadian billionaire resident in New Zealand since 2012, had amassed a considerable shareholding in NZME. In a filing to markets operator NZX he noted “there is no current intention to make a takeover bid”, a position he maintains now. Yet on some level that all seems immaterial, as yesterday a second announcement came via the NZX that Grenon was seeking to remove all the current directors of NZME and install new ones.
NZ should be worried given media concentration there , to allow one individual to own 4 out 5 board members.