First equity partner since Boucher’s buyout: Trade Me and Stuff’s major deal

Stuff Group and Trade Me have announced a major deal that sees the online classifieds business set to take a 50% stake in the media company’s digital arm.

The two companies jointly announced the news this morning.

Stuff Group CEO Sinead Boucher says in a statement it is the first time she has brought an outside equity partner into into the business since her management buy out five years ago.

Direct competition

Stuff Digital publishes website stuff.co.nz and ThreeNews.

Trade Me, which has been owned by London-based private equity shop Apax Partners since 2019, has listings including property, motors, jobs, services and a general marketplace.

Stuff’s political editor Luke Malpass reports that after the deal is complete, Stuff Digital will remain a standalone company but its property section will carry Trade Me branding, and listings, advertisements and some content will be shared across both platforms.

Trade Me CEO Anders Skoe told Stuff the partnership will be focused on property first before moving onto motoring, adding “there is a fairly long pipeline here of other opportunities that we plan to get into.”

It is a move that gears Stuff Digital to compete more directly with NZME, its property business OneRoof and its new partnership with Australian classifieds business Gumtree.

Trade Me will not take an equity stake in Stuff Group’s masthead publishing business, which includes printed titles and digital products, like The Post, The Press, the Sunday Star Times and a range of magazines. Earlier this year, the digital and masthead arms were separated out as individual companies under the Stuff Group umbrella.

The deal also excludes Neighbourly and Stuff Events.

Right partner, right time

In Boucher’s statement she says the vast audience the platforms have brings “brilliant new opportunities” for both companies, and for Stuff Group, continued investment in technology and talent for the future.

“It was important to me that we found the right partner at the right time in our growth strategy, protecting our fiercely independent media business which is loved and trusted by millions of New Zealanders.”

Stuff Digital will now be governed by a four person board, with two represenatives each from Stuff Digital and Trade Me. Stuff’s members are chief strategy office Fei Bian Goh and Boucher, and Trade Me’s are Skoe and head of property Alan Clark.

Skoe highlighted the importance of Stuff maintaining its editorial independence.

“I anticipate that Stuff journalists, or any other journalists for that matter, will continue to write all kinds of stories about Trade Me, whether they are, you know, good, bad or maybe even ugly.”

In discussions since 2024

The deal between Stuff Digital and Trade Me is set to be complete over the coming months.

Speculation began over the deal in March, but at the time both companies refused to answer any questions on the matter.

In a joint interview today, Skoe and Boucher confirmed they have been in discussions since last year, but would not comment further on the specifics, including the financial aspects, of the final deal.