Reporting the Trade Me purchase
In one NZ Herald story they report that:
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded its long-term outlook on Fairfax from stable to negative. Fairfax shares slid 4Ac to A$3.90 in Australia amid concerns about the price.
“It has a sniff of a panic buy,” said Greg Fraser, a media analyst at Shaw Stockbroking in Sydney. “New Zealand is a small market and I can’t see what they can do to grow the business.”
In December last year reports said Trade Me had an asking price of $100 million, with just a couple of sources picking it could go for up to $500 million.
And in another story, NZ Herald headlines it “Auction site fans fear worst“. This is based on a small minority of the messages on the Trade Me message board regarding the sale.
Meanwhile on Stuff, we have a universally positive story on the sale plus a business orientated story.
Any coincidence the buyer is Fairfax? We have the NZ Herald going overboard to raise concerns over the sale to its rival, while on the other hand Stuff, owned by Fairfax, not reporting any negative sentiment at all.
UPDATE: Stuff does have an NZPA story which covers some of the price concerns. However not clear if this story actually went into any print editions.