Iconic New Zealand magazine titles NZ Woman’s Weekly and the NZ Listener will resume publication immediately, with Bauer Media’s titles officially sold to an Australian investment company.

The magazine titles have been officially taken over by Mercury Capital.

The Sydney-based company has taken ownership of magazine titles Woman’s Day, New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, The Australian Women’s Weekly NZ, Your Home & Garden, the NZ Listener and Air New Zealand’s magazine Kia Ora.

READ MORE: Media suffer ‘devastating’ blows on both sides of the Tasman

Mercury Capital has sold North and South and Metro to independent publishers, which will resume publication “as soon as possible”.

North & South is going to independent publishers Konstantin Richter and Verena Friederike Hasel, while Metro has been sold to Simon Chesterman.

In April, Bauer Media announced it was shutting its New Zealand operations at a loss of 237 jobs.

The future of the remaining titles, NEXT, Taste, Fashion Quarterly, HOME and Simply You are being assessed.

40 editorial jobs
Mercury Capital said it would resume publishing immediately and about 40 local editorial and advertising jobs will be created.

Bauer ANZ chief executive Brendon Hill said: “I am delighted to see the return of some of New Zealand’s most loved titles and thrilled that this allows us to bring back a talented group of editorial and advertising staff to resume the publishing of these brands.

“The return of our New Zealand operation is a green shoot during a challenging time and hopefully a sign of more positive news to come in the local media industry. We had always remained hopeful that we would be able to resume operations – the easing of Covid-19 restrictions and a more promising advertising market has allowed us to do that.

“As conditions improve, we hope to continue to expand our NZ operations.

“I’d like to thank our loyal readers, staff, clients and the broader industry for their support during this period.”

The business will continue to trade under the Bauer name in New Zealand and Australia while a rebrand is underway, with the new brand and strategy set to be announced in the coming months.

Subscribers that have missed issues of the titles that are resuming will have these added to their subscriptions. Delivery of magazines will resume in early September.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By RNZ News

The publisher of some of New Zealand’s best known magazines has folded amid the economic fallout from the national coronavirus pandemic lockdown.

Bauer Media, which publishes The Listener, Woman’s Day, New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, Metro, North and South and Next, says it is no longer viable and has shut its doors today.

Chief executive Brendon Hill said the Covid-19 lockdown had stopped magazine production and put the business in an untenable position.

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He said magazines depended on advertising and it was unlikely that would recover to pre-crisis levels.

Business advisory firm EY has been appointed to work on an orderly wind-down of the business, and buyers are being sought for the magazines.

New Zealand Bauer staff were told this morning of the closure.

Hill said local staff would get full redundancy and other entitlements.

‘Devastating blow’
“This is a devastating blow for our committed and talented team who have worked tirelessly to inform and entertain New Zealanders, through some of the country’s best-loved and most-read magazines.”

Bauer carried out an urgent review of its New Zealand operations and considered all options to keep part or all the business open, including engaging with the New Zealand government, Hill said.

“An active search is underway to find buyers for our New Zealand assets, including our many iconic titles, however, so far an alternative owner has not been found,” he said.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

• If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs) or call your GP – don’t show up at a medical centre.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz