Postmedia Network
Postmedia Network Canada Corp.[3] (also known as Postmedia Network or Postmedia) is a Canadian media conglomerate[4] consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in newspaper publishing, news gathering and Internet operations.
Public | |
Traded as | TSX: PNC.A, PNC.B |
Industry | Mass media |
Predecessor | Canwest |
Founded | July 13, 2010 |
Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Products | Newspapers |
Revenue | CAD$676 million (2018)[1] |
Number of employees | 4,733[2] |
Subsidiaries | Postmedia News |
Website | postmedia |
The company's strategy has seen its publications invest greater resources in digital news gathering and distribution, including expanded websites and digital news apps for smartphones and tablets.[5] This began with a revamp and redesign of the Ottawa Citizen, which debuted in 2014.[5]
History
On July 13, 2010, the Manhattan-based hedge fund GoldenTree Asset Management acquired the Asper family’s bankrupt CanWest media empire for $1.1 billion.[6]
On October 6, 2014, Postmedia's CEO Godfrey announced a deal to acquire the English-language operations of Sun Media.[6][7] The purchase received regulatory approval from the federal Competition Bureau on March 25, 2015,[8] even though the company manages competitive papers in several Canadian cities; while the Sun Media chain owns numerous other papers, four of its five Sun-branded tabloids operate in markets where Postmedia already publishes a broadsheet competitor.[7] Board chair Rod Phillips has cited the Vancouver market, in which the two main daily newspapers, the Vancouver Sun and The Province, have had common ownership for over 30 years, as evidence that the deal would not be anticompetitive.[7] The purchase did not include Sun Media's now-defunct Sun News Network.[7] The acquisition was approved by the Competition Bureau on March 25, 2015,[9] and closed on April 13.[10]
Margo Goodhand, a former Edmonton Journal editor-in-chief, wrote in a 2016 Walrus article that Postmedia executives were behind outsourcing of Postmedia content to produce “Regina Leader-Post sports pages, Arts fronts for the Montreal Gazette, editorial pages for the Vancouver Sun” to a site within an office in Canada. [11][12]
In 2016, the company sought to restructure its compensation plans and reduce spending by as much as 20%, after reporting a net loss of $99.4 million, or 35 cents per diluted share, in the fourth-quarter ended Aug 31, compared with a $54.1 million net loss, or 19 cents per diluted share, in the same period a year earlier. This resulted in 90 newsroom staff losing their jobs.[13]
On November 27, 2017, Postmedia and Torstar announced a transaction in which Postmedia will sell seven dailies, eight community papers, and the Toronto and Vancouver 24 Hours to Torstar, in exchange for 22 community papers and the Ottawa and Winnipeg versions of Metro. Except for the Exeter Times-Advocate, St. Catharines Standard, Niagara Falls Review, Peterborough Examiner, and Welland Tribune, all acquired papers will be closed.[14][15]
In March 2018, the Competition Bureau issued a court filing accusing the two companies of structuring the deal with no-compete clauses in an effort to reduce competition in the newspaper industry, in violation of the Competition Act.[16][17]
On June 26, 2018, Canadian Press reported that, by the end of August, Postmedia will be closing the Camrose Canadian in Camrose, Alberta, Strathmore Standard in Strathmore, Alberta, Kapuskasing Northern Times in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Ingersoll Times in Ingersoll, Ontario, Norwich Gazette in Norwich, Ontario and Petrolia Topic in Petrolia, Ontario. It will also cease printing the Portage Daily Graphic in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, the Northern News in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, and The Daily Observer in Pembroke, Ontario while maintaining a digital presence for the three publications. As well, the High River Times in High River, Alberta will go from being published twice a week to once a week.[18]
On November 27, 2018, The Competition Bureau applied for a court evaluation contesting Postmedia’s claims of solicitor-client privilege, for records seized by the bureau during raids at the company's offices.[19]
On June 2019, Kevin Libin, the National Post and Financial Post comments editor and editorials editor and a founding editor of Western Standard, was assigned “executive editor of Postmedia politics". [4] The role focuses on coverage for federal politics in the Post. In addition, it focuses on coverage of federal and provincial politics within all of the dallies owned by Postmedia.[11]
In November 2019, Postmedia announced[20] that 66% of its shares were now owned by Chatham Asset Management, an American media conglomerate which owns American Media, Inc., and is known for its close ties to the Republican party.[21]
Assets
Advertising
- The Flyer Force
- Go!Local
Publishing
National
Broadsheet dailies
- Belleville Intelligencer
- Brantford Expositor
- Calgary Herald
- Cornwall Standard Freeholder
- Edmonton Journal
- Kenora Daily Miner and News
- Kingston Whig-Standard
- London Free Press
- Montreal Gazette
- North Bay Nugget
- Ottawa Citizen
- Regina Leader-Post
- The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
- Sault Star
- Sudbury Star
- Timmins Daily Press
- The Vancouver Sun (not related to the tabloid Sun newspapers also owned by Postmedia)
- Windsor Star
Tabloid dailies
Community newspapers
Postmedia owns newspapers that serve smaller communities across Canada, including:
- Airdrie Echo (tabloid)
- Bow Valley Crag & Canyon (tabloid)
- Brockville Recorder and Times (broadsheet)
- Chatham This Week (tabloid)
- Clinton News-Record (tabloid)
- Cochrane Times (Alberta) (tabloid)
- Cochrane Times-Post (tabloid)
- Drayton Valley Western Review (tabloid)
- Edson Leader (tabloid)
- Elliot Lake Standard (tabloid)
- Fort McMurray Today (tabloid)
- Fort Saskatchewan Record (tabloid)
- Goderich Signal-Star (tabloid)
- Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune (tabloid)
- Hanna Herald (tabloid)
- High River Times (tabloid)
- Hinton Parklander (tabloid)
- Kincardine News (tabloid)
- Kingston This Week (tabloid)
- Lakeshore Advance (Grand Bend; tabloid)
- Lloydminster Meridian Booster (tabloid)
- Mid-North Monitor (Espanola; tabloid)
- Mayerthorpe Freelancer (tabloid)
- Nanton News (tabloid)
- Owen Sound Sun Times (broadsheet)
- Peace River Record-Gazette (broadsheet)
- Pincher Creek Echo (tabloid)
- Red River Valley Echo (tabloid) closed 2020
- Simcoe Reformer (tabloid)
- St. Thomas Times-Journal (tabloid)
- Stratford Beacon Herald (broadsheet)
- Vulcan Advocate (tabloid)
- Whitecourt Star (tabloid)
- Winkler Times (tabloid)
- Woodstock Sentinel-Review (broadsheet)
Former assets
- Barrie Examiner (sold to Torstar and closed, 2017)[22]
- Bradford Times (tabloid) sold to Torstar and closed, 2017[22]
- Camrose Canadian (tabloid), closing 2018
- Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin sold to Torstar and closed, 2017[22]
- Niagara Falls Review (broadsheet) sold to Torstar, 2017
- Norwich Gazette, closing 2018
- Orillia Packet & Times (broadsheet) sold to Torstar and closed, 2017[22]
- Pembroke Daily Observer (broadsheet), ceasing print edition 2018
- Peterborough Examiner (broadsheet) sold to Torstar, 2017
- St. Catharines Standard (broadsheet) sold to Torstar in 2017
- Strathmore Standard (tabloid), closing 2018
Magazines
- Financial Post Business
- Living Windsor
- Muskoka Magazine
- Kingston Life Magazine
- Interiors Magazine
- Backpack Magazine
- Cannabis Post
- Muskoka Visitor Guide
- Ontario Farmer Magazines (Hog, Beef, Dairy)
- Swerve
- TVtimes
Online
- Canada.com
- Infomart.com
- celebrating.com
- connecting.com
- driving.ca
- househunting.ca
- remembering.ca
- shoplocal.ca
- SwarmJam.com
In addition, Postmedia Network owns all websites associated with all properties listed on this page either wholly or in partnership.
Software
- QuickTrac
- QuickWire
Other properties
Ownership structure
The ownership group was assembled by National Post CEO Paul Godfrey[6] in 2010 to bid for the chain of newspapers being sold by the financially troubled Canwest (the company's broadcasting assets were sold separately to Shaw Communications). Godfrey secured financial backing from a U.S. private equity firm, the Manhattan-based hedge fund GoldenTree Asset Management—which owns 35 per cent—as well as IJNR Investment Trust, Nyppex and other investors.[6] The group completed a $1.1 billion transaction to acquire the chain from Canwest on July 13, 2010. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the company has over 4,700 employees.[23] The company's shares were listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2011.[24] In 2016, Godfrey took a $900,000 bonus during a time that Postmedia laid off staff company-wide.[25]
See also
Other media groups in Canada include:
- Torstar
- Metroland Media Group
- Star Media Group
- Quebecor Media
- SaltWire Network
- The Woodbridge Company
- TC Transcontinental
Related articles
References
- Annual Information Form (PDF), Postmedia Network Canada Corp., 2018
- 2015 Annual Information Form (PDF), Postmedia Network Canada Corp., 2014
- "Federal Corporation Information". Corporations Canada. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
- "You Must Be This Conservative To Ride: The Inside Story of Postmedia's Right Turn". www.canadalandshow.com. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
- "Postmedia revamps Ottawa Citizen's digital service". CBC News, May 20, 2014.
- Olive, David (January 23, 2015). "Postmedia and the heavy price it pays to survive: Olive". Toronto, ON. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
- "Postmedia buys 175-paper Sun Media for $316m". Toronto Star, October 6, 2014.
- Competition Bureau will not challenge Postmedia’s acquisition of Sun Media. Competition Bureau, March 25, 2015.
- "Postmedia purchase of Quebecor's Sun Media OK'd by Competition Bureau". CBC News. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
- "Postmedia-Sun Media deal officially closes".
- "The new worry about the next election: your daily news - Macleans.ca". www.macleans.ca. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
- Goodh, Margo (2016-02-04). "Above the Fold". The Walrus. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
- "Five things to know with Canada's news media industry under public policy review - CityNews Toronto". CityNews Toronto. June 21, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
- "Postmedia to close community newspapers in Stratford, London, St. Thomas". CBC News. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
- "Torstar, Postmedia swap community papers, most to close". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
- "Competition Bureau's concerns over Postmedia-Torstar newspaper swap revealed in court filing". Financial Post. March 22, 2018. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
- "Torstar, Postmedia and the arrogance of the deal". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
- "Postmedia to close more local newspapers, cut staff by 10 per cent". Ottawa Citizen. Canadian Press. June 26, 2018. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
- "Torstar (Again) Blocks Release of Evidence in Conspiracy Case". The Tyee. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
- "Postmedia Fiscal 2020 Q1 financial report" (PDF). section 14
- "Behind Trump Tabloid King, a Connected and Flush Hedge Fund". Bloomberg. 2018-08-30. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
- Telecom; Media (November 27, 2017). "'The alarm bells should go off:' Postmedia, Torstar deal will see 36 community papers closed - Financial Post".
- ""Postmedia Network Annual Information Form"" (PDF). Postmedia Network Canada Corporation. October 2015. Retrieved June 23, 2016.
- "Postmedia begins trading on TSX", Financial Post, June 14, 2011, retrieved February 21, 2016
- "Postmedia executives receive $2.3-million in retention bonuses". Retrieved 2019-08-16.
External links
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