Peter Tonagh, a former Foxtel CEO and senior News Corp executive, is heading a consortium, including philanthropic interests, bidding for national news agency Australian Associated Press (AAP).
The bid group includes Fred Woollard at boutique investment management company Samuel Terry Asset Management and Kylie Charlton at Australian Impact Investments, a specialist asset consulting firm.
The consortium is interested in the newswire and with the AAP fact checking unit.
“We think we can turn AAP’s business around, but we know that if we don’t try that hundreds of journalists will lose their jobs next month and Australia’s media landscape will become even more concentrated," says Tonagh.
"We have raised a significant amount of money but the clock is ticking and the more money we can raise, from philanthropists, impact investors, and from government, the more jobs we can save and the more diverse the Australian media will be.”
Tonagh says AAP plays a vital role in the Australian media.
"It provides a unique form of news gathering infrastructure that not only supports hundreds of existing media outlets around the country but makes it much easier for new media outlets to enter the market,” he says.
Competition watchdog, the ACCC, is closely watching the sales process.
Chair Rod Sims told The Guardian: “Nine and News have said they would close AAP, and we’d be very concerned if they sought to block someone else trying to buy it. That would potentially raise problems under the competition and consumer act."
He says AAP’s continuation is important for media diversity and competition.
"It’s clear to me that media startups and smaller media that want to get bigger, they do depend on AAP," he says. "If we want the main players to be constantly challenged, then having AAP around is a good thing."
AAP, owned by Nine, News Corp, Seven West Media and Australian Community Media, in April announced its closure, saying it was unable to compete with free information on the internet.
The initial plan was to sell the valuable commercial pieces of AAP, including press release distribution service Medianet, to fund payouts for the 600 full-time and part-time staff.
But the owners, led by News Corp and Nine, were surprised at the depth of interest from potential buyers for the business as a whole, not just the profitable pieces, such as its press release distribution service, but the national newswire as well.
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