BusinessDesk welcomes Brian Gaynor as shareholder
Content Ltd, publisher of the BusinessDesk business and economic news service, is delighted to announce that Milford
Asset Manager co- founder, Brian Gaynor, has become a shareholder in the company.
Gaynor, who is well-known for his weekly columns in the Weekend Herald, is taking a 40 percent shareholding in
BusinessDesk, which has produced an authoritative daily newswire of business and economic news since it was founded by
former Bloomberg Asian editor Jonathan Underhill and award-winning New Zealand business journalist Pattrick Smellie in
2008.
“I am very impressed by BusinessDesk and its output and integrity,” said Gaynor. “I have invested to help BusinessDesk
widen its offering, particularly increasing its coverage of New Zealand companies, both listed and unlisted.
“I am hoping that this will contribute to the deepening of the country’s capital markets”.
In its 11 years in existence, BusinessDesk has become a fixture of the serious New Zealand news media, said Smellie.
“Brian Gaynor’s involvement is a huge vote of confidence in the importance of a fair, accurate, timely and ‘no fear or
favour’ business news service.
“We look forward to taking BusinessDesk to a wider audience at a time when, in a sea of fake news, the value of trusted,
reliable media is more than ever finding a paying market.
“We believe BusinessDesk is the only business news service you need. Our challenge is to make our news as accessible to
those who need it as we can.”
Smellie retains a 35 percent interest and chief reporter Paul McBeth will own 25 percent of the newly constituted
company. Jonathan Underhill left BusinessDesk last year and has sold his interest to Brian Gaynor.
The BusinessDesk team is the most senior working in New Zealand today. The rest of the reporting team - Jenny Ruth
(ex-NBR), Gavin Evans (ex-Energy News) and Rebecca Howard (ex AP-Dow Jones) and Nikki Mandow - are among the country’s
best and most experienced business reporters.