 | |
| Formerly | Canwest Limited Partnership (2000–2010) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| Industry | Mass media |
| Predecessor | Canwest |
| Founded | July 13, 2010; 15 years ago (2010-07-13) |
| Headquarters | 365 Bloor Street East Toronto,Ontario M4W 3L4 |
| Products | Newspapers, media websites, news content |
| Revenue |  $458.2 millionCAD (2022)[1] |
| Owner |
|
Number of employees | 2,006[3] |
| Website | postmedia |
Postmedia Network Canada Corp.[4] (also known asPostmedia Network,Postmedia News orPostmedia) is an American-owned, Canadian-basedmedia conglomerate[5] consisting of the publishing properties of the formerCanwest, with primary operations in English-language newspaper publishing, news gathering and Internet operations. It is best known for being the owner of theNational Post and theFinancial Post. It owns and operates over more than 130 print and digital news titles across Canada.[6][7]
The company's strategy has seen its publications invest greater resources in digital news gathering and distribution, including expandedwebsites and digital news apps for smartphones and tablets.[8] This began with a revamp and redesign of theOttawa Citizen, which debuted in 2014.[8]
Two-thirds, or 66%, of Postmedia is currently owned by American media conglomerateChatham Asset Management.[9] The company is headquartered at Postmedia Place onBloor Street in Toronto.[7]
The ownership group was assembled byNational Post CEOPaul Godfrey[10] in 2010 to bid for the chain of newspapers being sold by the financially troubled Asper family's Canwest (the company's broadcasting assets were sold separately toShaw Communications). Godfrey secured financial backing from a U.S.private equity firm, the Manhattan-basedhedge fundGoldenTree Asset Management—which owns 35 per cent—as well as IJNR Investment Trust, Nyppex and other investors.[10] The group completed a $1.1 billion transaction to acquire the chain from Canwest on July 13, 2010.[10]
On October 6, 2014, Postmedia's CEO Godfrey announced a deal to acquire the English-language operations ofSun Media.[10][11] The purchase received regulatory approval from the federalCompetition Bureau on March 25, 2015,[12] even though the company manages competitive papers in several Canadian cities; while the Sun Media chain owns numerous other papers, four of its fiveSun-branded tabloids operate in markets where Postmedia already publishes abroadsheet competitor.[11] Board chairRod Phillips has cited theVancouver market, in which the two main daily newspapers, theVancouver Sun andThe Province, have had common ownership for over 30 years, as evidence that the deal would not beanticompetitive.[11] It also The purchase did not include Sun Media's now-defunctSun News Network.[11] The acquisition was approved by the Competition Bureau on March 25, 2015,[13] and closed on April 13.[14]
In 2016, the company sought to restructure its compensation plans and reduce spending by as much as 20%, after reporting a net loss of $99.4 million, or 35 cents per diluted share, in the fourth-quarter ended Aug 31, compared with a $54.1 million net loss, or 19 cents per diluted share, in the same period a year earlier. This resulted in 90 newsroom staff losing their jobs.[15] Also in 2016, it was announced that the newsrooms of newspapers in Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, where Postmedia owns competing newspapers, would be merged into one newsroom per location while continuing to print each newspaper.[16]
On November 27, 2017, Postmedia andTorstar announced a transaction in which Postmedia will sell seven dailies, eight community papers, and the Toronto and Vancouver24 Hours to Torstar, in exchange for 22 community papers and the Ottawa and Winnipeg versions ofMetro. Except for theExeter Times-Advocate,St. Catharines Standard,Niagara Falls Review,Peterborough Examiner, andWelland Tribune, all acquired papers will be closed.[17][18]
On June 26, 2018,Canadian Press reported that, by the end of August, Postmedia will be closing theCamrose Canadian inCamrose, Alberta,Strathmore Standard inStrathmore, Alberta,Kapuskasing Northern Times inKapuskasing, Ontario,Ingersoll Times inIngersoll, Ontario,Norwich Gazette inNorwich, Ontario andPetrolia Topic inPetrolia, Ontario. It will also cease printing thePortage Daily Graphic inPortage La Prairie, Manitoba, theNorthern News inKirkland Lake, Ontario, andPembroke Daily Observer inPembroke, Ontario while maintaining a digital presence for the three publications. As well, theHigh River Times inHigh River, Alberta will go from being published twice a week to once a week.[19]
During theCOVID-19 pandemic, Postmedia laid off approximately 80 employees and permanently closed 15 community publications while navigating the financial strain of COVID-19. While the company utilized government subsidies, they claim they were unable to offset the decline in revenue.[20]
Postmedia closed 15 community newspapers in Manitoba and Ontario’s Windsor-Essex area as the publications were no longer financially sustainable.[20] The publications included Manitoba’sAltona Red River Valley Echo,Carman Valley Leader,Gimli Intertake Spectator,Morden Times,Selkirk Journal,Stonewall Argus & Teulon Times,Winkler Times, andThe Prairie Farmer, leaving Portage La Prairie as the company’s community presence in the province.[20] For Ontario, the closures included theKingsville Reporter,Lakeshore News (Windsor-Essex area),LaSalle Post,Napanee Guide,Paris Star,Tecumseh Shoreline Week, andTilbury Times.[20]
On February 17, 2022, Postmedia announced a definitive agreement to acquireBrunswick News Inc. (BNI). As well as several New Brunswick daily and weekly newspapers and "digital properties", BNI's assets included a parcel delivery business and "proprietary distribution software".[21]
In 2023, Postmedia announced it would be moving a dozen of its Alberta community papers to digital-only platforms, aiming for more outsourcing deals and laying off employees. The announcement was made January 18, 2023, during an internal memo to staff that was obtained byThe Canadian Press, describing the measures as a part of a "transformation plan geared toward managing costs". Later that day, Postmedia said it had also sold theCalgary Herald building for $17.23 million toU-Haul Co. after trying to sell it for nearly a decade.[22]
In July 2023, Postmedia Network Canada Corp. and Nordstar Capital LP announced that merger discussion between the two newspaper publishers will not continue.[23]
On May 27, 2024, Postmedia announced that it would sell theWinnipeg Sun, thePortage la PrairieGraphic Leader,Kenora Miner and News, and company's Winnipeg printing operations to politician and formerSun publisherKevin Klein.[24][25]
In July 2024, the company entered into an agreement to acquireSaltWire Network.[26] During the first week of December 2024, Postmedia rebranded Saltwire asPNI Atlantic News, with their websites changing to look like the parent company's other newspapers.[27]
Postmedia News is the news branch of Postmedia Network, providing similar content to all of its subsidiary news outlets and websites. It is identified as a source on all of its subsidiary newspapers.[28] The news agency provides news, sports, entertainment, photography, financial and feature information and data to Postmedia Network's Canadian newspapers, online properties and a number of third party clients in Canada and the United States.[citation needed]
In October 2018, in an opinion piece forNational Observer, Davide Mastracci reported that CEO Andrew MacLeod had declared Postmedia's publication, theNational Post, "insufficientlyconservative". It was reported that in June 2019, Kevin Libin, who helped defeat aunion drive at theNational Post earlier that year, took the role of "executive editor (politics)" to "oversee or run federal political coverage in thePost as well as federal and provincial coverage in all of the chain’s metro daily broadsheets." Mastracci and Sean Craig ofCanadaland argued this was to ensure the newspapers became more "'reliably' conservative."[29][30][31]
In November 2019, Postmedia announced that 66% of its shares were now owned byChatham Asset Management, an American media conglomerate which ownsAmerican Media, Inc. and is known for its close ties to theRepublican party.[9][32]
The creation of the Postmedia Network effectively concentrates more than 90 percent of all Canadian dailies and weeklies in one company, a fact lamented by J-Source, a Canadian media watchdog, in a 2015 online article.[33]
Margo Goodhand, a formerEdmonton Journal editor-in-chief, wrote in a 2016Walrus article that Postmedia executives were behind the outsourcing of Postmedia content to a site within an office in Canada for the sake of producing “Regina Leader-Post sports pages, Arts fronts for theMontreal Gazette, editorial pages for theVancouver Sun”.[31][34] In a 2020 article byThe New York Times, it was reported journalists had attested that sinceChatham Asset Management took over, Postmedia had centralized operations and cut staff so that its 106 newspapers were essentially clones of one another.[35]
On November 27, 2018, TheCompetition Bureau applied for a court evaluation contesting Postmedia's claims of solicitor-client privilege, for records seized by the bureau during raids at the company's offices.[36] In March 2018, theCompetition Bureau issued a court filing accusing Postmedia andTorstar of structuring the deal they made together withno-compete clauses in an effort to reduce competition in the newspaper industry in violation of theCompetition Act.[37][38]
According to Marc Edge, author ofThe Postmedia Effect, the network received $9.9 million in government financial assistance in 2022. In the same year, Postmedia's operating income was only $13 million.[39]
In 2016, Paul Godfrey took a $900,000 bonus during a time when Postmedia laid off staff company-wide.[40] CFO Doug Lamb received $450,000, COO Andrew MecLeod $425,000, legal and general counsel Jeffrey Harr $300,000, and National Post president Gordon Fisher $200,000. Unions representing Canadian journalists wanted the Postmedia executives to reject the total $2,275,000 as the newspaper chain continued to cut staff.[41]
In 2015, theGlobe and Mail reported that National Post columnistConrad Black, who used to own some of Postmedia's newspapers and is one of Postmedia's largest investors, told executives that he felt that some of the properties' qualities have deteriorated.[42][43] Black felt that the company should be investing on improving the quality of its properties.[42]
Postmedia owns newspapers that serve smaller communities across Canada, including:
In addition, Postmedia Network owns all websites associated with all properties listed on this page either wholly or in partnership.
Other media groups in Canada include:
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