Postmedia News is not an entity and Postmedia Network identifies it as an author on all of their newspapers and websites without an exception
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{{short description|Canadian media company}} |
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{{Infobox company |
{{Infobox company |
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Company type | Public |
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TSX: PNC.A, PNC.B | |
Industry | Mass media |
Predecessor | Canwest |
Founded | July 13, 2010; 13 years ago (2010-07-13) |
Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Products | Newspapers |
Revenue | ![]() |
Number of employees | 4,733[2] |
Subsidiaries | Postmedia News |
Website | postmedia |
Postmedia Network Canada Corp.[3] (also known as Postmedia NetworkorPostmedia) 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.
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] In October 2018, it was reported that CEO Andrew MacLeod declared the company "insufficiently conservative" which resulted in Kevin Libin, who played an active role in defeating a union drive at the paper earlier that year [6], to take charge of all political reporting and analysis in Postmedia newspapers to ensure the newspapers became more “reliably conservative".[7]
Postmedia is currently 66% owned by an American media conglomerate (Chatham Asset Management), known for its close ties to the Republican Party (United States).[8][9]
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.[10]
On October 6, 2014, Postmedia's CEO Godfrey announced a deal to acquire the English-language operations of Sun Media.[10][11] The purchase received regulatory approval from the federal Competition Bureau on March 25, 2015,[12] 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.[11] 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.[11] The purchase did not include Sun Media's now-defunct Sun News Network.[11] The acquisition was approved by the Competition Bureau on March 25, 2015,[13] and closed on April 13.[14]
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. [15][16]
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.[17]
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.[18][19]
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.[20][21]
On June 26, 2018, Canadian Press reported that, by the end of August, Postmedia will be closing the Camrose CanadianinCamrose, Alberta, Strathmore StandardinStrathmore, Alberta, Kapuskasing Northern TimesinKapuskasing, Ontario, Ingersoll TimesinIngersoll, Ontario, Norwich GazetteinNorwich, Ontario and Petrolia TopicinPetrolia, Ontario. It will also cease printing the Portage Daily GraphicinPortage La Prairie, Manitoba, the Northern NewsinKirkland Lake, Ontario, and The Daily ObserverinPembroke, Ontario while maintaining a digital presence for the three publications. As well, the High River TimesinHigh River, Alberta will go from being published twice a week to once a week.[22]
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.[23]
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.[15]
In November 2019, Postmedia announced[24] 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.[25]
Postmedia owns newspapers that serve smaller communities across Canada, including:
In addition, Postmedia Network owns all websites associated with all properties listed on this page either wholly or in partnership.
The ownership group was assembled by National Post CEO Paul Godfrey[10] 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.[10] 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.[27] The company's shares were listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2011.[28] In 2016, Godfrey took a $900,000 bonus during a time that Postmedia laid off staff company-wide.[29]
Postmedia Network identifies Postmedia News as an author and journalist on all of its subsidiary newspapers. [30]
Other media groups in Canada include: