Mumbrella deal heats up trade media battle as Tim Burrowes returns

The deal sees industry veteran Tim Burrowes return with a 40 per cent share of Mumbrella, a business he co-founded in 2008.

The Intermedia Group managing director Simon Grover, left, with new business partner Tim Burrowes.

A trade media war may be reignited with industry veteran Tim Burrowes returning to run the Mumbrella newsletter and events business in partnership with The Intermedia Group.

The deal sees Mr Burrowes return with a 40 per cent share of Mumbrella but the buyback deal means he has surrendered 60 per cent of his recently launched newsletter, Unmade, to Intermedia. Both titles will make up the division, Mumbrella Media, that sits within Intermedia, with Mr Burrowes running both as publisher and managing director.

The deal is expected to close next Tuesday with staff from both titles then moving into Intermedia’s inner-city warehouse.

Flying into Sydney on Monday morning from his Launceston base, Mr Burrowes broke the news to the market via a post on Unmade, shortly after Mumbrella staff were alerted to the return of the co-founder.

Mr Burrowes launched Mumbrella in 2008 with partners Martin Lane and Ian Wakeling, with each holding a third of the business. Mumbrella was eventually sold to the Australian arm of US-based Diversified Communications in 2017 for $7m-$8m.

Nobody was commenting on the price Diversified received from Intermedia to unload it, but it is believed to be significantly less than what they paid for the title.

Mumbrella was not for sale when Diversified received at least one optimistic offer just over 12 months ago, but it has been considered a strong brand that has been underperforming in a very challenging advertising and events market.

Intermedia managing director Simon Grover made an acceptable offer that sees Diversified make a clean exit from the business. After they closed that deal Intermedia reached out to Mr Burrowes to fold in Unmade and run both.

Acknowledging a challenge ahead for the new business, Mr Burrowes on Monday said “much of our task will be to give (the sector) reasons to reconsider Mumbrella”.

Speaking to The Australian, he added he will meet the Mumbrella team on Tuesday, saying “hopefully they will all come across”. There are around 15 people involved in the two titles making up Mumbrella Media.

Mumbrella will remain a free title, for now, driven by both events and advertising revenue, while Unmade will retain its subscription model and continue to grow its event business.

“All this came together very quickly and we are still writing the budgets for 2025. We are looking to hire a great editor,” Mr Burrowes said, adding the new editor would probably be for both titles, with all staff expected to work across the two.

Asked if the publishing rebel had mellowed, he recalled something he wrote not too long ago. “When Mumbrella first launched, we ran towards every fight,” he said. “I don’t think we now need to run to every fight. We will always be independent and sometimes stand against the status quo. That makes us fight for a better industry for everybody.”

During his time running Unmade since it launched in 2021, Mr Burrowes was first based in the UK before he moved back to Australia, splitting his time between two idyllic properties in northern Tasmania with flights to Australian capitals when needed. He’s resigned to spending more time away from home this year.

One of the reasons Mr Burrowes will spend more time in Sydney is to ensure his new ABC podcast, MediaLand, gets off to a strong start. Broadcast first on Radio National every Friday at 5.30pm from January 24, it will then be available as an ABC podcast. His co-host is journalist turned publicist Vivienne Kelly, a former Mumbrella editor.