With just about all of the industry’s attention on the Nine-Fairfax deal of late, speculation is brewing about what Seven West Media’s next move will be.
Seven was tipped to be the more likely dance partner of Fairfax over the last few months, only for Nine to swoop in last week with a deal estimated to be worth $4.2 billion.
What’s more is that Seven West Media CEO Tim Worner and Seven Group Holdings boss Ryan Stokes signalled this week that there are no media deals on the horizon for the company.
However, Fairfax reported this week that Seven and Bauer Media have held discussions around a possible joint venture in the way of shared merchandising and subscription services to minimise costs.
It’s believed these discussions have been paused, but that there is potential for both parties to return to the negotiating table.
A Seven spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by B&T, while a Bauer spokesperson said, “there’s no further information available at this stage”.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if the two companies partnered up, given Fairfax and News Corp entered into an agreement just last month to share each other’s printing networks. Also, Seven (through Pacific Magazines) and Bauer each have a number of magazine titles.
Watch this space.
