Vinyl Group is acquiring Nine’s youth publisher Pedestrian Group days after making several Mediaweek editorial staff redundant.
In a statement on the Australian Stock Exchange, Vinyl Group said it would buy Pedestrian “for nominal consideration, with no other cash, debt, scrip or royalties associated with the transaction”.
The company will join Vinyl on 15 June.
Pedestrian Group’s brands include the youth-focused Pedestrian.tv, which is the majority of the business, and Openair Cinemas.
Vinyl Group said the acquisition would increase its audience by 2 per cent to 53 per cent of Australians online and that it expects to contribute $600,000 to $800,000 of pro forma EBITDA in the 2027 financial year.
Pedestrian Group generates revenue through display advertising, native content, production, video, programmatic, BVOD, affiliate and its jobs site.
Nine Entertainment acquired a majority stake in Pedestrian.tv in 2015 for about $10 million, then took full ownership in 2018, purchasing the last 40 per cent for $39 million.
Vinyl Group chief executive Josh Simons said that the acquisition of Pedestrian “reflects the strength of Vinyl’s Group acquisition strategy”.
B&T understands that Nine was not actively trying to sell Pedestrian Group but decided to offload the business after a “strategic review”.
Nine has recently sold its radio business, now called Tapt Media, to the Laundy family, and its Newcastle TV operation NBN to WIN.
Last year Vinyl Group decided to revive Refinery29, which was previously part of Pedestrian Group.
In an internal note to staff, Nine chief executive Matt Stanton said Pedestrian Group will be best placed for growth by finding a new home with Vinyl Group.
“They are eager to work with Pedestrian Group to continue the momentum built up as a result of the team’s hard work. I would like to thank Mason Rook and the whole Pedestrian team for not skipping a beat throughout this whole process and continuing to deliver quality youth focused news and content,” he said, adding that Nine has also sold its stake inFuture Women to Helen McCabe.
Vinyl Group’s plan to acquire Pedestrian Group comes at a time of instability at the publishing group.
Only last week, Vinyl Group made redundant its head of editorial operations Sarah Chapman, Mediaweek’s head of editorial Duane Hatherly and journalist Vihan Mathur — the latest round of redundancies at the company.
