The move comes amid Stuff’s restructuring and aims to bolster digital growth and technology investment, particularly in the property sector, where Stuff’s property section will be rebranded under Trade Me Property.
Editorial independence will “be maintained”, with Stuff chairing the new board and retaining operational control.
Media analysts say the merger strengthens both companies while increasing pressure on rival legacy media outlet NZME and its property brand OneRoof.
Daily Telegraph New Zealand (DTNZ) is an independent news website, first published in October 2021. - where this article was sourced.
Editorial independence will “be maintained”, with Stuff chairing the new board and retaining operational control.
Media analysts say the merger strengthens both companies while increasing pressure on rival legacy media outlet NZME and its property brand OneRoof.
Daily Telegraph New Zealand (DTNZ) is an independent news website, first published in October 2021. - where this article was sourced.
3 comments:
When Buzzwords Meet Bottom Lines: The Real Story Behind the Stuff–Trade Me Tie-Up”:
There’s a certain magic to corporate press releases—the way they contort declining relevance into “growth strategies,” and desperate sell-offs into “exciting new opportunities.” The recently announced Stuff–Trade Me deal is a masterclass in this genre of hollow optimism.
Let’s call it what it is: a vertical integration Hail Mary—an ageing classifieds giant buying into an ageing news platform, both battered by market shifts they were too slow to anticipate. But rather than confronting those structural failures, we’re fed warmed-over words like “synergy,” “purpose,” and “alignment.” Translation: no one really knows what the business case is, but hey, maybe two sinking ships lashed together won’t sink quite as fast.
What’s truly happening here is a consolidation of control over New Zealand’s property information ecosystem. Trade Me’s buy-in to Stuff Digital—cozy board seats and all—means that the line between editorial independence and real estate advertising just got blurrier. Property sections will now double as platforms for listings, partnerships, and ‘content sharing’—that great euphemism for branded advertorials disguised as journalism.
And make no mistake: this is anti-competitive camouflage. With NZME’s OneRoof and now Trade Me–Stuff jointly circling the same real estate dollars, what little diversity was left in this market is being quietly choked off. The Commerce Commission should be paying attention—but they likely won’t unless the merger leaves flaming wreckage in its wake.
Then there’s the farce of innovation. We’re told this is about investing in “technology and talent,” but that’s corporate shorthand for cost-cutting disguised as transformation. The tech? Most likely automated ad placement tools and audience-tracking metrics designed to squeeze more value out of shrinking traffic. The talent? Fewer reporters, more “content creators.”
At the centre of this all is Sinead Boucher, now chair of Stuff Digital and still clinging to the mirage of editorial integrity, despite the clear business pivot toward transactional synergy with a property site. Her casting vote won’t preserve independence—it will only prolong the illusion of it.
In truth, this deal is less a strategic masterstroke than a slow, quiet surrender. It’s smoke and mirrors, dressed up as media reinvention. And it’s happening at a time when New Zealand desperately needs independent balanced journalism—not real estate PR in newsprint drag.
Shayne Currie – Editor-at-Large, Insight-In-Short-Supply:
Shayne Currie has once again emerged from the echo chamber of media-on-media coverage to bring us… well, not much. His latest “Media Insider” dispatch about the Stuff–Trade Me deal is classic Currie: brimming with noise, but bereft of signal. It’s the journalistic equivalent of opening a large, glittery box and finding it empty except for a laminated business card that says “Trust Me, I’m Important.”
For someone billing himself as Editor-at-Large, Currie seems peculiarly tethered to PR scripts and euphemisms. His long-form reporting style is mostly stenography with adjectives—dutifully copying every pre-approved quote and serving it up like it’s breaking news. It’s not journalism; it’s content chaperoning.
We learn, again, that Sinead Boucher paid $1 for Stuff. We are told that Trade Me and Stuff are “trusted Kiwi brands.” We are informed that “synergies” are in play and that the companies “share values.” No mention, of course, of editorial capture by classifieds, or the fact that this deal quietly completes the commercial colonisation of independent media.
Instead, Currie’s “exclusive” reads like he phoned in a few questions, was politely ignored, then simply rewrote the press release with added fluff. You can almost hear the dictaphone clicking.
What’s missing? Any real economic analysis, for one. No discussion of what happens when Trade Me’s interests conflict with Stuff’s editorial independence. No mention of market concentration, or whether the Commerce Commission will blink. Just a brisk tour of past transactions and a few knowing nods to “industry speculation,” as if hyperlinking to yesterday’s headline is a substitute for thinking.
It’s hard not to suspect that Shayne Currie’s real job is to make NZME look serious by flattering the industry it’s now half-competing, half-merging with. Like a wedding photographer who keeps getting in the way of the ceremony, he captures the moment but never asks whether the marriage makes sense.
Of course, Currie will tell you he’s one of New Zealand’s “most experienced senior journalists.” You’ll find that line at the bottom of nearly everything he writes. Oddly, experience doesn’t seem to be translating into insight. If you’re looking for actual analysis, context, or critique, you’re better off reading the press release upside-down while blindfolded. At least then you won’t be lulled into thinking you’re being informed.
In the end, Shayne Currie’s coverage of the Stuff–Trade Me deal tells us everything we already knew—and nothing we actually need to. It’s cheerleading dressed up as commentary, corporate PR thinly veiled as journalism. But hey, at least it was exclusive.
NZME and Stuff will both continue to be part of the ,, progressive,, news filltering bloc with increased transcripts of RNZ material pushing the correct narratives ln politics at home and abroad a nd in the case of the latter the uniparty socalled centre right are on board too .
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