Fiktiv Australia - Australian Financial Review

The Australian Financial Review (abbreviated to the AFR) is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, Australia; owned by Nine Entertainment Co. and has been published continuously since its founding in 1951. The paper was initially owned by Fairfax Media but was sold along with the parent company to Nine Entertainment for $2313.8mm AUD. The AFR is published in compact format 6 times a week, whilst providing 24/7 online coverage through its website. In November 2019, the AFR reached 2.647 million Australians through both print and digital mediums (Mumbrella).

The Australian Financial Review started as a print-only weekly newspaper in 1951, before changing to a bi-weekly in 1961, and a daily newspaper in 1963. The paper now publishes multiple magazines and a supplementary weekend paper, which was launched in 1995. In that same year, the AFR website was also released, which helped to expand its readership base across all audiences.

Historically, the AFR's news articles and editorials favoured neo-liberal ideals, influencing Australian policy debates during the 1970s - 1980s. During the 2000s, the AFR took on the role of the 'corporate watchdog', scrutinising businesses and the government for foul play and corruption. In more recent years, the AFR's editorial stance and news coverage has become more neutral. However, it is still considered moderately conservative in its reporting bias with regards to free market regulation policies, but relatively close to the centre in its political views amongst Australian newspapers.

The Australian Financial Review newspaper started as a weekly publication in 1951, published by John Fairfax & Sons. The paper's main objective was to inform the Australian public on business life and news.

In 1961, the AFR converted to a bi-weekly, and then established itself as a daily newspaper by 1963. During 1961-62, the AFR's primary competitor was The Australian Financial Times, which was in operation for less than 12 months. In the 1960s and 1970s, the AFR developed a strong readership amongst a specialist business audience due to its neutral stance on domestic government policies.

In 1995, Fairfax launched the Australian Financial Review Magazine in response to its growing readership across a wide-ranging audience. The magazine was published to cover topics other than business including leisure, politics, travel, sports, fashion, and other peripheral topics. In December 2019, the magazine recorded an average issue readership of 326,000. Since its launch in 1995, the AFR Magazine has won the 'Best Newspaper Inserted Magazine' (2013-2019), 'Newspaper Inserted Brand of the Year' (2019) and Mumbrella's 'Special Issue of the Year' (2019). This magazine's founding was followed by the launch of the AFR's website in the same year. In 1997, the AFR launched its Weekend Edition which extended the paper's publications into the weekend, with an explicit focus on targeting the growing readership base by providing news articles outside of the traditional finance setting.

The Australian Financial Review has grown its product offerings since its beginnings as a finance newsroom. It has consistently been well received by the journalism sector as one of the most high-quality newsrooms across Australia. Since the 2000s, the AFR has launched the Australian Financial Review Magazine and BOSS (magazine for business leadership and strategy). In 2019, the Australian Financial Review recorded double-digit subscriber growth, as it continued to market its newspaper as the driver of Australian businesspeople’s success and ambitions. Due to the newspaper company's recent expansion efforts across different readership bases, the AFR now reaches 2.647m Australians a month.

The AFR first introduced its paywall in 2006, charging online users to view its articles – a payment model that had not yet been utilised by any other Australian newspaper firm. The switch to a paywall was done because the newspaper company thought it could further monetise its niche business audience who could afford it. Following this change, the AFR continued to adjust the pricing of its subscription due to low subscriber growth. In 2011, it newly introduced a freemium paywall in which only a small portion of articles are free. It has been noted that the AFR.com locks approximately 86% of its online content behind a paywall, higher than its closest competitor the National Business Review. This was aimed at increasing its digital readership which in 2011 amounted to 6,000 subscribers. In addition, it was later determined that the AFR's failures in attracting online subscribers was due to its paywall being too expensive. Its 2012 price of $59 AUD was notably higher than other international mastheads, including The New York Times which was priced at $37.84 AUD. As a result, the AFR has since lowered its digital subscription price to $29.50 AUD.

The mega-cap deal that saw Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media merge was inspired by initial chats between Hugh Marks (Nine CEO) and Nick Falloon (Fairfax chairman). The pair discussed how the two companies’ assets could synergise, improve efficiencies, save costs and increase scale. During the lead up to the merger, there were a few roadblocks. In 2016, the proposed merger was not feasible due to government legislation surrounding media ownership. In addition, Nine Entertainment's board believed that its share price was undervalued and thus wanted to delay any acquisition until its fair value had been reflected. Amongst the delays in talks between the two parties, Fairfax had other suitors including private equity groups TPG Capital and Hellman & Friedman which ended up walking away from the table.

In 2018, Nine Entertainment's board started to rekindle talks with Fairfax of a potential merger after its share price had jumped following upbeat earnings reports. The proposed structure of the takeover was 0.3627 Nine shares plus $0.025 AUD per Fairfax share, composing a cash plus scrip deal. This represented a 21.9% takeover premium to Fairfax's last close, and valued Fairfax at $2313.8mm AUD. Once the deal was made, it was reported that Fairfax's portfolio newspapers, including the AFR, would maintain independent from Nine's media groups. As part of the proposed deal, Hugh Marks took over corporate control of the combined group with Fairfax CEO, Greg Hywood, stepping down.

A successful newspaper is more than the sum of its parts and never less than the quality of its readership.  The Australian Financial Review is no exception. Australia's premier business, finance and political newspaper for more than fifty years, the Financial Review is without peer, wholly unique.

The Australian Financial Review's discerning readers are people of substance and influence, with real spending power, power sustained through the good and bad of the economic cycle. They demand quality and are more than willing to pay for it.

They want a newspaper that informs their choices, reflects their needs. A newspaper that delivers what it promises, consistently and at the highest standards year after year. The Financial Review succeeds in holding a captivated readership by being:
Fast: with its clear and concise style, regulars take what they need quickly and efficiently.
Flexible: different readers read it in different ways by scanning and using the clear brief section and index.
Focused: it’s focused on what business people need to know for the business day.
Factual: it gives readers hard facts and objective analysis with no hype or exaggeration.

Daily Sections:
Need To Know - A daily checklist of the significant news stories, market movements and a brief look at the week ahead.
Early General News - The big stories are placed into perspective, relating directly to the interests of an influential audience.
World - Incisive reporting and analysis of world events and what they mean for Australia’s business community
Companies - Comprehensive coverage of companies making the news - essential reading for those at the helm of any major business.
Market Wrap - The full record of financial information for business people, company executives, participants in the market, investors and day traders. Market Wrap is a dedicated section that contains expanded tables, inclusion of global markets, additional local and international editorial coverage from Monday to Friday. Each day, the first three pages feature stories almost exclusively on the local market.
Regular columns provide the latest gossip and inside information on companies that are on the move in the market. A separate and highly popular column, Taking Stock provides short commentaries on stocks, which are displaying unusual share price movements.
Weekly columns such as Under Scrutiny examine companies whose share prices have been queried by the Australian Stock Exchange, and others, such as Substantial Notices, reveal changes in shareholdings in major companies.
Rear Window - Dry wit and often cutting satire have complete sway on this page.
Financial Services - The finger on the pulse of Australia’s banking, insurance and funds management industries.
Information - The only daily newspaper section covering IT issues from a business perspective.
Property - A daily round-up of the hottest stories covering rural, tourism, commercial, industrial and prestige markets.

Weekly Sections:
Monday
Global Markets - Complete summary of international market activity
Marketing & Media - The campaigns and the movers behind the scenes of an influential industry, this section makes a considerable impact on a market that takes interest in its image.
Sports Review - Covers the weekend sporting results and all that is the business of sport.
Thoroughbreds - Dedicated to covering the sport of kings and the business side of the industry.
Rural Property - We examine the rural property market in key regional locations nationally, looking for trends, price movements and investment returns.
Business of Education - Education offers a national forum for debate. It’s the space where business and education meet.

Tuesday
Enterprise - Providing Australia’s small and medium size businesses with useful and timely information.
Commercial Property (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday) - A definitive source of property news, analysis and profiles focusing on the listed property trusts, developers, fund managers & private investors.
Workspace - Dedicated to keeping our readers up to date with lead stories on management & industrial relations issues from Australia & around the world.
Information - The authoritative lift-out section covers important IT news locally and overseas. National IT writers and correspondents in the US, Asia and Europe bring readers all the latest IT & telecommunications news that matters, together with expert analysis.

Wednesday
Smart Investor - Targeting the sophisticated individual investor and influential intermediaries, this lift-out section looks in detail at a range of investment options both globally and domestically.
Managed Funds - Follows the paper trail from investor to major fund management companies and “hot” investment sectors of the economy.
Market Wrap - Expanded equities coverage and an in-depth analysis of the share market issues targeted at fund managers, financial planners and retail investors.

Thursday
Special Reports - Providing our reader base with quality information on particular industries and regions, and forward-looking coverage of specific business, financial and technology issues.
Arts & Saleroom - Meets a unique need by covering investment opportunities for those with an eye for rare and desirable items centering around antiques and art.
Mens Health - Provocative weekly column looking at all the issues around health & well being. As baby boomers grow older, health is becoming big business for advertisers.

Friday
Executive Recruitment - Provides a dedicated audience that is looking for the best of what the business market has to offer in top level recruitment solutions.
Review - Sophisticated and clever, this eclectic lift-out explores ideas and current thought in culture, literature and the fine arts, economics, politics, public policy, history, science, philosophy & the environment.
Legal Affairs - The must-read guide to the business of law. No other newspaper devotes an entire section to the legal profession.
Life & Leisure (Friday & Saturday)  - This full colour section is published in the AFR on Friday and over the Weekend and is dedicated to the needs of Australia’s high net worth consumers when they are in a weekend buyer mindset. Editorial is focused on the finer things in life such as prestige and executive property, luxury, indulgence motoring, travel, entertainment, fashion, art and design
Professional Services - For professional service providers in accounting, consulting and advisory industries.
Government Business - All you need to know about the business relationship between the private sector and government.
Property - A focus on the luxury residential and weekend living market.
AFR BOSS - Inserted into the AFR every 2nd Friday of the month, AFR Boss is the definitive guide to practical leadership & management solutions.
AFR Magazine - Inserted into the AFR on the last Friday of each month, it takes a unique view of the movers & shakers, trends, fashion, travel, books, food, wine, executive toys and more

Saturday
News Focus - A weekly round up of significant business news stories. This section encompasses local and international events, IT related developments, and higher education with a business focus.
Perspective - Provoking intelligent debate, the feature articles in this popular section tap into Australia’s intellectual psyche. Weekend Review offers insight into books, art and leisure in a unique manner that encourages informed discussion.
Smart Money - The heart of the Weekend AFR, Smart Money covers all aspects of personal wealth creation. Our expert writers share their financial wisdom on topics such as smart funds, property, art investments, home loans, credit cards and online brokers. Market Wrap follows, delivering a wrap up of the week’s stock market movements and listings.