ANALYSIS: NBR’s publisher is stepping back from managing the company, amid a swathe of changes in the newsroom.
Jackie and Todd Scott remain NBR’s owners, but Todd will no longer manage the business.
It’s been a tumultuous time for media of late and we haven’t been immune from that at the National Business Review. But while other media have been starved by dwindling advertising revenue and newsrooms set adrift by overseas owners, the almost 54-year-old NBR has consistently innovated and proved the paywall model does indeed work.
Todd Scott has been publisher (in other words, the owner) of NBR for 12 years now, in a well-publicised buy-out deal from Barry Colman.
Grant Walker.
Todd’s a passionate and driven owner (and particularly vocal on LinkedIn, where he’s amassed quite a following) who puts his money where his mouth is. He has decided to step back from managing NBR’s business and strategy to focus on his new venture New Media Solution (NMS), set to launch in August.
Todd will continue to direct the development of the technology stack which sits behind NBR’s platform, that was built two years ago from scratch by Nero Motion, which is also working with Todd on NMS.
While he and Jackie Scott will remain the owners of the business (and Jackie, as CFO, very much in charge of the purse strings), yesterday Todd ceded business decisions over to the capable hands of Grant Walker, who started in the editor-in-chief-of-strategy role this week.
Walker is busy devising plans to make NBR the best possible platform for our member subscribers while driving growth forward exponentially.
Editorial control, as always, remains with your co-editors.
Speaking of which, we mark two years in the co-ed’s hotseats next week (there may be doughnuts for the newsroom) and what a ride it has been.
There’s been highs, there’s been lows – and we’re looking forward to guiding this newsroom for a few more years to come.
Two years ago our Last Word promised we, as new editors and millennials, would bring fresh focus to NBR while building on the stellar reputation for business news the publication has had for the past five decades. Partly we wanted to widen the voices of business and bring more diversity of thought to the publication, which was done through new columnists, additions to the team and new rounds, and add more global business and economic news and how it affects New Zealand – in came the ever-popular Morning Brew, and two capable business journos based in Sydney and Canberra.
The quality of our team’s work continues to clean out business news awards. The next to keep an eye on is the Ethical Investment and Impact Awards, where senior journalist Will Mace is up for his clear depictions on the opaque world of ESG.
Along with that we’ve continued NBR’s heavy-hitting reporting on business issues and keeping noses to the ground on long-running sagas such as CBL, Du Val, Mainzeal, and supermarket duopolies.
Occasionally we get accused of being too woke, and a little less occasionally these days of being too conservative – but in reality, our hardworking team provides the best analysis and investigative business news around.
We’re looking forward to adding to the newsroom over the next couple of months the immensely experienced and hard-hitting broadcasters Mike McRoberts and Simon Shepherd, who along with our talented production team have big ideas about how video and podcasting can improve subscribers’ experience on the site.
We’ve recently been joined by senior journalist Brent Melville who’ll be covering property, construction and tourism, and, in what is always a nice vote of confidence for the newsroom culture, the re-joining of our former colleague Fiona Rotherham, who’s back doing what she does best – covering NZ’s start-up and venture capital scene and never backing down in the pursuit of a story.
We’ve got a veteran and hugely respected political editor based out of NBR’s press gallery office in the form of Brent Edwards, who will be at the Budget lock-up next Thursday along with economics reporter Jono Mitchell, ready to decipher what really business needs to know from that enormous financial tome.
We’re knees deep in reporting season, with the newsroom digging deep into companies within their rounds to provide you with the most comprehensive earnings coverage in the country.
And after six months of trawling through Terranet accounts, swatting up on equity stakes through the Companies Office, and repeated calls to NZ’s wealthiest to confirm every last detail is correct, the finishing sparkles are being put on the NBR List 2024, ahead of its release on June 10. Hint, hint… there’s a surprise in there that’ll have you spit your morning coffee out.
NBR proudly takes no government funding and no advertising – so all our work is funded by you. We thank you for your ongoing support.
And as always, we’re listening – so if you have story ideas, tip-offs or feedback, please email us at editor@nbr.co.nz
Calida Stuart-Menteath and Hamish McNicol are NBR’s co-editors.
