The property advertising sales team at regional publisher ACM will be unaffected by the closure of real estate classifieds site view.com.au following the View Media Group (VMG) restructuring.
From June, the View.com.au branding will disappear from ACM network’s newspapers and website’s property sections, and the portal will be closed.
The restructure of View Media Group, a subsidiary of ACM with investment from the ANZ bank and Seven West media group (now Southern Cross), also will not affect the members of ACM’s property reporting team.
In a statement, the VMG board said the decision to close was made to enable immediate profitability as the company restructures into four divisions.
The Property Agency, Today Media and AD Group were reported as profitable and growing revenue steadily. The fourth, Acquire, is recording strong revenue growth.
"The VMG divisional management team will stay in their current positions to drive all businesses forward," the statement said.
"Unfortunately, it is anticipated that a small number of roles in the group will be made redundant as a result of this closure."
Among those to go is Paul Tyrrell, View Media Group’s CMO.
In an internal email, Tony Kendall, managing director, said ACM's core business remains stable and profitable.
“The focus of that core business remains unchanged: to provide the local news coverage that regional Australians demand and deserve and to deliver the advertising solutions that meet the needs of our commercial partners,” Kendall wrote in the email.
“The restructure of VMG does not affect the members of our property reporting team led by Jen Melocco, or the ACM sales team's activity in providing local real estate customers with excellent advertising solutions.
"You, our talented teams around the country, provide news and information to more than 5.2 million Australians a month. And you work hard to connect advertisers with this highly engaged audience."
View was launched by Anthony Catalano and Alex Waislitz in 2023 to take on classifieds sites REA and Domain.
Catalano last month stepped down as chairman of the View Media Group and of regional publisher ACM as he faces charges of assault, false imprisonment and making threats to kill.
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