Stuff Group chief executive Sinead Boucher and TradeMe chief executive Anders Skoe. Photo: Supplied / TradeMe
About three quarters of the way through a video interview announcing Trade Me acquiring 50 percent of her company's digital arm, Stuff's owner Sinead Boucher made a pointed statement.
"One of the most important things for us is editorial independence. And part of choosing the right partner at the right time was finding someone who respected that editorial independence as much as we did and who understood how integral it was for our trust," she said. "We would never do anything to compromise that."
Boucher didn't mention Stuff's largest media competitor NZME, but she didn't need to.
The video was released just hours before a shareholders' meeting on the future of the rival company, which owns the New Zealand Herald, Newstalk ZB, and a host of other media brands.
It has been the subject of a board takeover bid by the billionaire Jim Grenon, who has refused to commit to keep out of editorial decision-making.
Trade Me chief executive Anders Skoe had no such reservations when it came to his company's new stake in Stuff.
"Both myself and the broader TradeMe team are very strong supporters of editorial independence. We believe it is critical for the continued success of Stuff and fully support it," he added after Boucher's comment.
"I anticipate that both Stuff journalists as well as other journalists for that matter will continue to write all kinds of stories about TradeMe whether they are good, bad, or even ugly."
In the end, Grenon fell short of his desired goal of getting three board seats at NZME.
But in a compromise the current board agreed to, he got one for himself and a host of other concessions, including an editorial board which would include his ally, former Newstalk ZB Plus editor Philip Crump.
By drawing her line in the sand on editorial independence, Boucher has staked out potentially valuable commercial ground.
In her interview with Skoe, she said trust is a key part of the company's appeal to advertisers, and any hint of board interference in newsgathering and reporting could compromise that pitch.
But the stance is also a point of principle.
Stuff broke off negotiations on selling its mastheads division to NZME after learning of Grenon's takeover bid.
In an interview with RNZ today, Boucher alluded to potential commercial suitors that didn't align with the company's goals.
"Over the years we've had no shortage of approaches but I would not describe them all as partners I would want to be engaged with."
What's the deal's appeal?
For Trade Me, the appeal of buying a share in Stuff is clear.
Stuff has consistently been the most-viewed news site in New Zealand. It is a useful source of traffic for Trade Me property and motoring arms, which face competition from the likes of Facebook Marketplace and NZME's profitable property platform OneRoof.
Under the agreement, Stuff's property section will become Trade Me Property branded, with listings, ads and some content shared across both platforms.
Competing with OneRoof could also be part of Stuff's calculations - and its timing.
Boucher told RNZ the move would result in an "enhanced property experience" on the Stuff site, which would later be expanded to motoring.
TradeMe's investment is also just a valuable source of funding in a cash-strapped industry.
Newsroom media commentator Tim Murphy said Stuff "would have been suffering" amid a downturn in digital advertising and the Trade Me deal relieves some of that pressure.
"Such a big player relying on digital advertising that has gone down and down and down, from what we see from the listed company NZME - it would have been the same on Stuff… the income, the revenue from the digital side will have been really stretched."
Or as one wit on Twitter put it: "Finally, classified ads are funding journalism again."
A sign of decline
The deal is a full circle moment for Trade Me and Stuff.
In 2006, when Stuff was part of Australia's Fairfax Media, it acquired 51 percent of Trade Me for $750m.
It sold those shares for $A616 million in 2012 to pay down debts.
Now the acquisition boot is on the other foot.
The Spinoff's Duncan Greive hailed the move as a "masterstroke" for the news organisation.
But it's also a sign of just how far the media has declined.
When Stuff's forerunner INL was bought by Fairfax Media in 2003, the Australian publisher parted with $1.2b.
News organisations that once had the clout to make near-billion dollar takeover bids can now be bought relatively cheaply, as Boucher found out when she acquired Stuff for a single symbolic dollar back in 2020.
The same day the Trade Me/ Stuff deal was unveiled, shareholders at NZME grilled their top brass and prospective directors about how they planned to exploit OneRoof.
Last year the company said its revenue rose by more than 50 percent while the company itself posted a net loss of $16m.
Shareholder Roger Colman described Trade Me / Stuff as "an integrated enemy" NZME must now face.
And if they need evidence of how valuable property content can be to a company, they can look across the Tasman.
Domain - the property platform set up by Stuff's former owner Nine Entertainment - was bought last month by U.S. real estate firm Costar for an eye-watering A$3 billion.
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