Finder.com.au chief Fred Schebesta joins AAP suitors line-up

Finder.com.au founder Fred Schebesta is the latest suitor for the AAP newswire service which is due to close in June.

Finder.com.au founder Fred Schebesta

Finder.com.au founder Fred Schebesta is the latest suitor for the AAP newswire service in what could become an increasingly competitive bid for the 85-year-old company due to close in June.

The Australian understands that Mr Schebesta sent a go-between to management on Tuesday to express his own interest in AAP newswire and potentially its other businesses which include media releases service MediaNet and sub-editing company PageMasters.

Mr Schebesta was in early talks with AAP management and their consultancy TMT Partners yesterday but stressed any interest in the company was preliminary.

“Finder has a lot of journalists and we write a lot of great content. I saw that they have a lot of great journalists in their business, and they write a lot of great content,” Mr Schebesta told The Australian. “I thought maybe there is a way to protect the industry.”

The inclusion of Mr Schebesta could make for a more competitive bid process, with the Finder.com.au founder looking at ways to integrate his content business with AAP.

Mr Schebesta has made growth and acquisitions a focus in recent years, turning his financial comparison portal into a business with over $100m in revenue and with an increasing focus on content.

The entry of another potential bidder for AAP comes just two days after former News Corp and Foxtel CEO Peter Tonagh revealed he was heading up a consortium to buy the business and eventually turn it into a profitable outfit.

“If it’s a purely philanthropic venture it is going to die. If it is a purely commercial endeavour it won’t work either,” Mr Tonagh told The Australian on Monday.

“But if it is philanthropic and there’s a transition period in the end you should be able to get a return.”

The consortium includes Fred Woollard, managing director of Samuel Terry Asset Management, and Kylie Charlton, managing ­director of Australian Impact Investments.

AAP announced in March that the company would shut, leaving several hundred journalists, editors and photographers without jobs.

The decision was a result of News Corp (publisher of The Australian) and Nine deciding to pull out of the venture, which was costing the companies at least $10m a year in shareholder contributors and more in related party loans.

News Corp and Nine have made clear they will not be customers or shareholders of a new AAP, with News Corp recently unveiling its own internal NewsWire service for mastheads and plans to on-sell content to third parties.

AAP is chaired by News Corp senior executive Campbell Reid.

Further details of the Tonagh-led consortium were leaked on Tuesday which claimed the business was targeting potential media clients who would favour a new AAP over the News Corp wire.

AAP customers include The Guardian, The Daily Mail, Antony Catalano’s ACM, and Eric Beacher’s Private Media who pay a fraction of the cost shareholders Nine and News bear for the service. The Australian revealed in March that The Guardian cut its contract to AAP by 40 per cent to just $70,000 after the publisher renegotiated its supply deal.

Investor packs claimed the new AAP could turn a $2.1m profit by 2030 but would need to cut back on staff, reporting rounds, photos and move to a six-day week.

Others previous interested buyers included Social Ventures Australia, banker Charbel Nader and Gary Morgan from Roy Morgan research. Mr Morgan said he thought the company would be unviable without News and Nine as customers.

“Once they said News and Nine wouldn’t be customers I didn’t think it would work. I don’t see how it can work without them.”

AAP would not comment on any talks with Mr Schebesta.