Change of Ownership for Oldest Weekly NZ Newspaper

19 January 2007

Change of Ownership for Oldest Weekly NZ Newspaper

NZ Truth, the country's oldest weekly newspaper, has a new owner.

Fairfax Media announced today it has sold Truth, established 102 years ago, to a New Zealand group of private investors.

Fairfax Media chief operating officer Peter O'Hara said the newspaper had been sold for an undisclosed price to a group headed by Dermott Malley, a Hawkes Bay businessman with a publishing background.

"Fairfax is pleased to have reached an agreement with a New Zealand group which has experience in publishing and which will be a natural owner for the newspaper,'' Peter O'Hara said.

Truth was founded by John Norton, an Australian, and at its peak in the 1960s had a crusading reputation commanding wide readership across New Zealand.

Fairfax Media had gone to the market to seek a purchaser stating that Truth was a publication with a healthy cash flow and solid readership base, but one which did not fit easily in these times with the rest of the Fairfax Media stable.

Dermott Malley said: "We're very happy to have acquired this iconic New Zealand paper. NZ Truth has been an integral part of Kiwi culture.

"We look forward to exciting times in bringing back the Truth."

ENDS

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