Postmedia Network Canada Corporation (TSX: PNC.A, PNC.B) is a Canadian media company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in newspaper publishing, news gathering and Internet operations.
The ownership group was assembled by National Post CEO Paul Godfrey[3] 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 U.S. private-equity firm, a Manhattan-based hedge fund, Golden Tree Asset Management—which owns 35-per-cent—as well as other investors.[3] The group completed a $1.1 billion transaction to acquire the chain from Canwest on July 13, 2010. The company has over 3,200 employees.[4] The company's shares were listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2011.[5]
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.[6] This began with a revamp and redesign of the Ottawa Citizen, which debuted in 2014.[6]
Acquisitions and mergers
On October 6, 2014, Postmedia's CEO Godfrey announced a deal to acquire the English-language operations of the Sun Media Corporation.[7][3] The purchase got regulatory approval from the federal Competition Bureau on March 25, 2015,[8] 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.[7] 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.[7] The purchase did not include Sun Media's now-defunct Sun News Network.[7] The acquisition was approved by the Competition Bureau on March 25, 2015.,[9] and closed on April 13.[10]
The greatest Canadian circulation war occurred in the 1950s and 1960s in Toronto, between the Liberal/left/socialist Toronto Star and the "steadfastly Conservative, Royalist and right-wing" Toronto Telegram, located on Bay and Melinda St.[11]
CAD$674.255 million (2014)[1]
