Stuff for sale
The Herald reports:
From the moment Nine and Fairfax announced their merger, it was clear that Stuff wasn’t part of the plans for the future of the joint enterprise.
Speculation that the company would slice off the New Zealand arm has been confirmed by Nine chief executive Hugh Marks, who told the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday that a formal sale process for Stuff would begin in the next few months.
Marks did not specify who the business would be sold to, but did say there had been interest from a “broad group of companies”.
An independent adviser report by Grant Samuel at the end of last year estimated that Nine may be able to get around $115-$135 million from the sale of Stuff. The finance firm also noted that the Kiwi unit’s operating performance is expected to keep declining in the short- to medium-term until its transformation beds in, providing it’s successful.
$100 million isn’t a huge amount of money. Should Kiwiblog try to crowdfund a takeover bid?