News Corp Australia has quietly axed a major project that would have allowed small businesses to buy advertising across the company’s publications, and made dozens of people redundant.

The project, known as Veeta and created with consultants from Accenture, had been in development for three years with at least 150 people involved at various stages, people with knowledge of the project said. Upwards of 50 people were made redundant after Veeta was axed, one said.