News outlet Business Insider Australia will cease operations in March after its German-owned parent company ended its local publishing license.
As reported on by The Sydney Morning Herald, Pedestrian Group which runs the latest edition will eliminate three roles following the decision by Business Insider’s parent company.
Consequently, Insider will unfortunately join a string of international publishers who have shut down or downsized editorial operations in Australia over the last five years.
Companies like BuzzFeed Australia, Yahoo and HuffPost have already reduced editorial teams due to changes in global strategy or commercial viability.
According to a note to staff seen by The Herald, Pedestrian Group, chief executive, Matt Rowley (pictured above), said, “We will no longer produce editorial content for Insider/BI and there will not be a BIAUS website.”
“Under the commercial agreement we are putting in place, we will still be able to sell not just [Business Insider] inventory, but across all of Insider.”
“This will generate both opportunity and challenges as we figure out how to make the new arrangements work best.”
A point of call for young professionals, Business Insider launched in 2007, expanding with an Australian edition launch in 2013.
The new changes which will begin in March will mean that coverage of Australia and Asia’s business markets will come from the publications Asia-Pacific bureau in Singapore.
A spokesperson said, “Pedestrian Group and Insider are pursuing a commercial arrangement that would see us continue to commercialise inventory in the ANZ market but across Insider more broadly.”
Nonetheless, Pedestrian Group will continue to run its other websites and brands.
