NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business

Mega float opens door

By Tamsyn Parker
NZ Herald·
25 Mar, 2014 04:30 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Dotcom stepped back from a hands-on role at Mega last year, resigning as a director in August to focus on his extradition hearing. Photo / Richard Robinson

Dotcom stepped back from a hands-on role at Mega last year, resigning as a director in August to focus on his extradition hearing. Photo / Richard Robinson

Internet firm's boss says people keen to invest but analysts pick mainstream to steer clear.

Analysts and brokers say the back-door sharemarket listing of Kim Dotcom's Mega will pique the interest of some but is unlikely to get mainstream investors on board.

NZX-listed shell company TRS Investments announced yesterday a plan to buy 100 per cent of Mega for $210 million, which will be satisfied by the issue of 700 million new shares in TRS to the existing Mega shareholders at 30c apiece.

It will then undertake a 148 for 1 consolidation of its existing share capital, leaving Mega shareholders owning 99 per cent of TRS and adopt the Mega name.

Mega chief executive Stephen Hall said the proposed deal had been in the works for some time and he hoped it would be finished by the end of May.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It's obviously been part of Mega's strategy for a long time to become listed," Hall said.

"There's just so much interest in Mega within New Zealand and globally and investors are keen to be part of the story and keen to invest. As a growth company it will need capital and we're keen to open it up and let people get involved."

Dotcom launched Mega last year to replace Megaupload, his previous venture which was shut down in a United States-led operation that alleged the file-sharing firm and its owners had committed mass copyright infringement and money laundering of more than US$500 million.

This week, Dotcom and his co-accused, Finn Batato, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk lost a bid in the Supreme Court to access US government evidence against them ahead of the extradition hearing.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Dotcom stepped back from a hands-on role at Mega last year, resigning as a director in August to focus on his extradition hearing, music streaming website and political aspirations via the Internet Party.

Mega's existing shareholders include Dotcom's wife Mona, who owns 26 per cent of Mega via MD Corporate Trustee, followed by Wolf Ortmann with 18 per cent, and Michael Sorensen via VIG Ltd with 11 per cent.

James Smalley, a director at broker Hamilton Hindin Greene, said there almost certainly would be interest in the company based on the amount of media attention Dotcom attracted.

"It's what he does - the name itself might generate interest."

Discover more

New Zealand|politics

Politicians of all stripes welcome

22 Mar 03:15 PM
Shares

Mega share partner facing charges

25 Mar 01:16 AM
Telecommunications

Orcon cuts Dotcom ties

24 Mar 10:26 PM
Shares

What is a back door listing?

25 Mar 12:40 AM

But whether it was a good investment would come down to its fundamentals.

Mark Lister, head of private wealth research at Craigs Investment Partners, said it would strike a chord with some.

"I'm sure there is someone out there who will want to have a closer look but I can't see it fitting our mainstream investment portfolios," he said.

Lister said the firm looked for companies with strong governance, a track record of performance and a good outlook for future growth.

"Over the course of time Mega might be able to tick a couple of those boxes."

Lister said the back-door listing would also put some people off. "There will be some people that would prefer to see a full prospectus, management roadshow and brokers providing research."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Technology investor Lance Wiggs said Mega was not something traditional investors in New Zealand would look at.

"I guarantee you the banks and the analysts and everybody are looking at this and going, 'What the heck?"'

Wiggs said that while Mega had boasted good customer numbers in the weeks after it launched its growth and the number of paying clients it had attracted since then was likely to determine appetite for shares.

"There's definitely a place for them in the [cloud-storage] eco-system," Wiggs said. "The question is, do they have the credibility in terms of revenue growth and the team and the ability to raise money to keep up with the pace and get to the other guys?

"Until we see those numbers we just don't know."

Technology investor and commentator Ben Kepes questioned Mega's ability to compete in the market. "With vendors like Google and Microsoft joining the increasing number of companies delivering these services on a cheap or free basis, it leaves questions about the ability of Mega to execute upon a truly differentiated service," Kepes said. "If the model is to enable consumer file sharing then they are up against an almost insurmountable obstacle."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

TRS shares rose 900 per cent to close on 1c.

What is Mega?

• Mega is a company which allows people to store electronic files in the cloud - anything from photos, to music and movies, to a copy of your passport.
• Mega believes its strength lies in the level of privacy and security the website provides its users.
• All data held with Mega is encrypted and the user who uploads a file controls who gets access to it.
• The company itself does not know what a user is storing or sharing over the service.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Business

Property

Ryman sales down, Summerset sales at record levels

10 Jul 11:14 PM
Business

Police warn scrap dealers as copper price rockets

10 Jul 10:43 PM
Business

T&G Global receives multiple offers amid sale speculation

10 Jul 10:31 PM

Audi offers a sporty spin on city driving with the A3 Sportback and S3 Sportback

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Ryman sales down, Summerset sales at record levels

Ryman sales down, Summerset sales at record levels

10 Jul 11:14 PM

Ryman's performance contrasted sharply with Summerset, which made record sales in quarter.

Police warn scrap dealers as copper price rockets

Police warn scrap dealers as copper price rockets

10 Jul 10:43 PM
T&G Global receives multiple offers amid sale speculation

T&G Global receives multiple offers amid sale speculation

10 Jul 10:31 PM
How NZ is tackling worker protection issues in the primary industries

How NZ is tackling worker protection issues in the primary industries

10 Jul 10:30 PM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP