Sinead Boucher bought Stuff for $1 in 2020 - but now faces angry unionised journalists who walked off the job on Thursday.
Furious Stuff journalists take aim at CEO; RNZ boss opens up on scathing radio report - and the future location of Morning Report, talent; Analyst says NZME has ‘a bit to prove’; RNZ’s move into TVNZ - an updated timetable.
A little over five years ago, Sinead Boucher was the toast of Stuff - staff jubilant that their chief executive had pulled off an audacious move with the $1 acquisition of the news publishing firm.
It was a move widely celebrated across the news media industry and beyond - if not by NZME bosses, who had been striving to buy Stuff themselves, but were ultimately stymied by regulatory hurdles and an Australian owner, Nine, that wanted to quickly wash its hands of the Kiwi firm.
The Newsroom website proclaimed in its headline: “Behold, Saint Sinead of Stuff”.
And Stuff itself reported: “Staff reacted to the news with a mixture of relief and jubilation, after a stressful few weeks where the prospect of Stuff closing altogether had been raised by rival news outlets.”
That same article, a profile of Boucher, quoted her sister, Colleen O’Hanlon, who was working for Stuff at the time. She described a family FaceTime call a few days before the $1 deal was announced.
“She just really casually dropped it in, that there would be some news coming in the next couple of days that ‘I’m buying Stuff’,” said O’Hanlon.
“She was modest about it. She instantly went, ‘but I’m not going to keep it, I’m going to move to a staff ownership share model . . . that’s my plan.”
Fast forward five years, and the Stuff organisation is divided - both in structure and spirit.
While Boucher undoubtedly continues to have solid support within the business, many of the journalists - those represented by the E tū union - radiate a sense of betrayal.
More than 140 unionised journalists walked off the job for a two-hour strike yesterday - angry about what they call “insulting” pay offers and how the company plans to divide their collective contract into two, aligned with Stuff’s defined businesses, Stuff Digital and Masthead Publishing.
On a picket-line in Auckland, Sinead Boucher’s face and name were prominent on placards and leaflets.
“We will not be pushed over by Sinead Boucher,” union delegate David Long told his gathered colleagues, adding they were dedicated journalists who deserved fair pay rises.
One placard, bearing Boucher’s face, said: “The workers’ message to Sinead Boucher, CEO and owner of Stuff: We make Stuff. Don’t stuff us.”
The respective public statements of the parties revealed just how heated the dispute has become.
“Stuff journalists have taken hit after hit to get Sinead Boucher’s company through hard times,” said journalist and union delegate Tom Hunt.
“We accepted no increases during Covid and effectively nothing last year, because we believed the company when it told us times were tough.
“To now be offered an insulting pay rise, and to see the company trying to split us into different collective agreements, is disgraceful. It shows they plan to keep screwing us for years to come.
“This is from a company that boasts about being a wonderful corporate citizen, all while our owner takes a secret payday from selling a share of the business to Trade Me. The hypocrisy is staggering.”
Stuff responded in kind.
“While we do not comment on our ongoing negotiations with E tū due to good faith and confidentiality commitments, we have plans in place to ensure our audiences and commercial partners remain unaffected,” said a Stuff spokesperson.
“The statement from E tū contains a number of deliberate untruths. Since Covid we have given our staff pay rises every year which are in line with the market, there has been no ‘secret payday’ and no one has been ‘screwed’.
“It is disappointing to see two journalists mischaracterise the issues in this manner.”
The union had initially been seeking a 6.5% pay increase. No one is saying what Stuff has offered in return.
Given Stuff is a private company, details of Trade Me’s recent 50% acquisition of Stuff Digital have so far remained confidential.
Those on the picket line yesterday said they supported the deal, if the benefits flowed to the workers.
“Well, we don’t know anything about it,” Long told reporters of the Trade Me deal details. “Sinead never had a meeting with the staff, never told anyone - she talked to other media about it, but she never had a town hall [meeting] with us about it. She just talked about how it was great for the company.”
The planned staff share ownership scheme that Boucher originally spoke about when she bought the company in 2020 evolved the following year to the establishment of a staff trust, controlled by employee representatives.
The trust would own a 10% stake in the company, and the trust representatives would be selected by workers.
According to a news report in Stuff quoting Boucher at the time, the arrangement meant staff would receive through the trust a share of any dividends Stuff paid out, and 10 per cent of the sale proceeds if Stuff was later sold or listed.
But Long says there have been no updates on the staff trust.
“Nothing at all. Again, I heard that [raised again] in the media when the Trade Me deal was announced ... but there’s been zero about it since it was signed off three or four years ago. We still haven’t seen a single penny from it.”
Stuff reported in 2021 that the “gift” meant no workers would have to put any money into the media firm. “...and they will not face any liabilities, including tax liabilities, as can apply with traditional share ownership schemes”.
I quizzed Boucher in June about the staff trust - and whether workers would benefit from the freshly inked Trade Me deal.
“The idea behind that [trust] is that I’ve gifted 10% of the value of the company to staff. It will be handled through the staff trust.
“So if and when we make any distributions out of things like this deal... the staff will definitely benefit from that.”
I pushed Boucher further on this, and whether journalists might see proceeds from the sale.
“We’ve still got a couple of months at least to go before the deal is completed and a few other things to do like that, but it will definitely be a watch-this-space and we will keep them informed.”
On the picket line yesterday, union staff were delivering their own payout to Boucher, verbally.
I asked E tū union director Michael Wood last night whether more strike action was planned.
“We will be seeking to return to negotiations now. No further industrial action is currently scheduled and members will decide on this dependent on progress in negotiations.”
Union members “hope and expect the company to listen to their strongly held views and present a fair offer that enables the dispute to end”.
“Ultimately, members expect Stuff to behave in a way that is consistent with the owner’s stated values and call on her to provide leadership to resolve the dispute in a fair way that enables everyone to move forward.”
A resolution, however, might be some time off.
As reported early last month, Stuff has employed no-nonsense consultant Adrian Tocker to lead its collective contract negotiations.
Tocker won’t come cheap – and he won’t come with any intention other than getting the very best for the company.
I happened to be back in Auckland for an overnight stopover during the Great New Zealand Road Trip and popped along to cover the picket-line action in Ponsonby.
Many of the placards carried a pencil drawing of Sinead Boucher. She looks very stern. I wondered who had drawn it.
“Oh, we did that with AI. We didn’t want to run into any copyright issues,” one staff member told me.
It is understood multiple images were used to come up with the final version.
RNZ boss Paul Thompson has rejected advice that both presenters of the public broadcaster’s flagship Morning Report show should be based in Auckland - one of several recommendations to help rebuild radio listenership.
Independent reviewer Richard Sutherland wrote that moving the Morning Report team, including presenters and producers, to Auckland from Wellington was essential.
He acknowledged relocating the show would “ruffle feathers in Wellington”, but having it in the country’s biggest city would bring it closer to a “broader range of voices, stories, and perspectives”.
However, in a wide-ranging interview with Media Insider this week, Thompson rejected the idea of both hosts being in Auckland.
“That’s his advice - that’s not my intention,” he said.
Morning Report’s two hosts are split between the cities, Corin Dann is in Wellington and Ingrid Hipkiss is in Auckland. The core of the production team is in Wellington.
“We’ve got two good presenters there,” said Thompson. “We’re refreshing the show at the moment. We’re pleased with where that’s going and that’s the focus.
“Richard absolutely is entitled to his views, but what we decide to do is our plan.”
RNZ has already said it will have “a more Auckland-focused” Morning Report team without specifying which roles might be affected.
Thompson also said RNZ had to consider resilience. If one of the two cities was impacted by an event, it was important the show could continue to be broadcast.
Thompson went on the front foot this week to discuss his action plan around boosting radio listeners in light of the scathing Sutherland report. He’s written a column on RNZ’s website and sat down for several interviews.
“I felt it was a good set of recommendations and good, robust independent advice,” Thompson told Media Insider of the Sutherland report.
“He delivered on his brief ... it had to be frank. When I looked at those May GFK [ratings] numbers and RNZ National had tracked down again, I absolutely knew that we needed to rethink our approach.”
Thompson will be buoyed by an uptick in listeners in the latest RNZ ratings, released this week. RNZ’s total cumulative audience increased by 8100 to 475,800. At the same time, Newstalk ZB fell by 27,000 listeners.
Nonetheless, there is still a big gap between the two news stations.
One of the biggest concerns will be that RNZ National’s Auckland listeners fell again, albeit slightly - by 400, to 116,000.
RNZ quite rightly continues to reinforce its success in growing its digital audiences in recent years as well as its overall reach, through content partnerships with the likes of the NZ Herald and Stuff.
But Thompson has been clearly focused in recent weeks on the importance of rebuilding radio. The Sutherland report certainly took no prisoners.
One board member also took aim at the messengers.
While praising Thompson’s own column this week, and RNZ’s digital growth, board member Irene Gardiner wrote on LinkedIn: “As an RNZ board member, it’s been a little frustrating reading some of the rather breathless coverage from our print media friends about RNZ National’s listenership dropping, and our plan to refresh the station.
“But the house is not on fire. Loyal RNZ National listeners don’t need to worry. The station is just getting a bit of a freshen up because it is still very important to us ...”
RNZ is interviewing shortlisted applicants for the new executive role of chief audio officer. That person will have a Herculean task.
The chief audio officer will be based in Auckland, reflecting the importance of the region.
I asked Thompson, who is Wellington-domiciled, whether he should also relocate to Auckland.
“I feel like I have,” he said with a slight laugh.
”I don’t even know whether there’s such a thing as a head office these days. We travel and, if I was in Auckland, I’d have to be in Wellington a lot. I don’t really think it’s important where I am."
Thompson said RNZ was not obliged to pick up everything in the Sutherland report. In some of the most blistering and pointed comments, Sutherland suggested some people should not be on air and staff at every level of the organisation viewed radio as a “sunset industry”.
“We’re not obliged to agree with everything in [the review], but I do think it has been a good catalyst to focus us on the challenge,” said Thompson. “It was advice, not something which had any other standing apart from that.”
Asked whether he believed there needed to be any talent changes at all, he said: “My mindset at the moment is that we have talented presenters, and we’re really focusing on making sure that we’re giving them every opportunity to succeed, and you’re running the station with that clearer focus and really working on every minute of the schedule to make it as good as it can be.
“Everyone needs to step up and do the best job we can, and that’s my view at the moment.”
A leading analyst says NZME has a “a bit to prove” when the economy kicks back into gear.
NZME this week reported operating earnings of $23.9 million and an after-tax loss of $393,000 for the first half of its financial year, with its board declaring an interim dividend of 3c a share.
Jarden head of research and longtime NZME watcher Arie Dekker said cost-out initiatives were doing the “heavy lifting” in the company’s 2025 ebitda guidance of $57 million-$59 million.
“While earnings are in line with our expectations, we have made downwards revisions in revenue that flows into our nearer-term forecast outlooks for digital subscriptions and OneRoof digital in particular, where momentum in key drivers came off in 1H25.”
Longer term, the forecasts in these key areas were constructive.
“We highlight that we think it will be important that we see tangible signs of momentum return as the macro environment improves,” wrote Dekker.’
“The slowdown in digital subscriptions in the first six months of this year is a concern and it looks like yield is going to have to be used to keep growing this subscriber base into FY26E.”
He said NZME had navigated the past five years well - through Covid and a prolonged recession - but it would “need to prove itself as the economy improves”.
“The two key drivers are ongoing growth in digital subscription revenues and establishment of a meaningful ebitda pool in OneRoof digital. This will be against a backdrop of ongoing pressure in traditional reader revenues in publishing and pressure on advertising revenue.
“We have had a positive rating on NZM over the last five years but value gap has closed and NZM has yet to prove it can stabilise and then grow earnings. It is not sustainable for cost-out to do all the heavy lifting.”
He retained NZME as “overweight” with a target share price of $1.20. NZME shares were sitting at $1.15 at the close of the NZX on Thursday.
Forsyth Barr, meanwhile, kept its blended spot valuation at $1.15.
Management’s expected full-year operating ebitda of $57m-$59m was 4% behind Forsyth Barr’s prior $60.7m estimate at the midpoint.
“We cut our FY25 estimate by -4% to NZ$58.3m, with revenue declines partially offset by lower cost assumptions. NZM’s guidance does not assume any significant economic improvements over the remaining ~four months of the year, which we see as prudent given ongoing delays in NZ’s economic recovery.
“However, management reiterated that the ‘full impact of cost reductions will be seen in the second half’. In the medium term, our operating ebitda estimate falls -3% in FY26 but rises +2% in FY27 as we factor in stronger cost control than previously assumed.”
TVNZ has completed a remarkable financial turnaround over the past 12 months, announcing today a $25.7 million net profit after tax ($10.7m adjusted) and a dividend to taxpayers for the first time in three years.
Back to RNZ for a moment. It appears its timetable for a move into the TVNZ building in Auckland has been pushed out.
Original tender documents stated that a successful contractor would be advised by early June, with work to start in early July. The targeted completion date was November 22.
Both TVNZ and RNZ talked late last year of RNZ’s staff moving in in late 2025.
However, that’s now looking increasingly likely to be early 2026.
“We are about to tender the work and get the fitout done,” said RNZ’s Paul Thompson. “We’ve got resource consents.”
A spokeswoman followed up: “As we’ve indicated to RNZ’s Auckland team, we are still aiming for a staggered move-in from late 2025. However, we are mindful that a construction shutdown period over Christmas could mean that the move starts in 2026. We will provide an update on the move-in dates once contracts are signed for the fitout.”
In the meantime, RNZ has a lease on its existing building through the first quarter of next year. It starts paying a lease to TVNZ in November.
The interview with Paul Thompson was also my first opportunity to ask him directly about comments that NZ First leader Winston Peters made to Morning Report host Corin Dann several months ago, in which the politician implied RNZ’s public funding was at risk because of RNZ’s journalistic approach.
Peters was incensed with Dann’s line of questioning about a NZ First member’s bill to define the term “woman” in law, accusing the broadcaster of running the line of political opponents.
Peters said at the time: “The fact is, you’re paid for by the taxpayer and sooner or later we’re going to cut that water off too, because you’re an abuse on the taxpayer.
“You’re not hearing both sides of the story, you keep on putting the argument of the woke left. You’re a disgrace to the mainstream media.”
RNZ later received a Budget funding cut, although Broadcasting Minister Paul Goldsmith insisted this was already planned as part of public service cutbacks and had nothing to do with the Peters interview.
Thompson told me this week: “It’s a reality of how political figures will sometimes challenge the media. Our independence and the way we operate is so rock solid - our system does work.
“We have shareholding ministers, they appoint the board, but we have our own legislation with our statutory independence.
“I think it is just part of the political debate, and I don’t feel I need to respond or have to respond because it doesn’t influence us.
“We always have our charter there to guide us - it does give us that strong independent backbone.”
Many of New Zealand’s top photo-journalists have donated some of their best and favourite shots for a fundraising exhibition for former NZ Herald photographer Jason Oxenham.
Proceeds from the Light+Shade exhibition will support Oxenham’s ongoing cancer treatment.
Light+Shade opens next Friday, September 5, and runs until Sunday, September 14, at Gallery 154, level 2, 154 Queen St in Auckland. (Monday to Friday noon-6pm; Saturday-Sunday 10am-6pm. Free entry)
Framed and unframed prints are available.
Go to www.oxenhamphoto.com for more information. From September 1, the website will display all the photographs available to purchase for a limited time.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
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