Michael Caspaney, director of Menzies Advisory, was this morning appointed liquidator of Business News Australia Pty Ltd, which publishes under that banner and also owns the business names Gold Coast Business News and Brisbane Business News and hosts a business awards program.
Business News Australia editor Matthew Ogg confirmed the liquidation of the company he described as founder Camilla Westerlund’s life’s work.
Ms Westerlund, based in Broadbeach Waters, is the sole director and shareholder of Business News Australia, which has a Varsity Lakes address at the southern end of the Gold Coast region.
She has been an officer of the company since its registration in late 2000, originally under the name Etch Pty Ltd, later Gold Coast Business News Pty Ltd, then Business News Publications Pty Ltd and finally the current name adopted in 2014.
The operations and properties of Business News Australia are separate from Business News Pty Ltd, the Perth-based publisher of Business news fortnightly magazine and www.businessnews.com.au, although there was confusion in the market as the east coast player tried to expand its presence into WA.
The two business models are very different, although the similarities in market and branding were enough to lead some users to confuse Business News Australia with Business news at least repeatedly since 2020.
The two companies are also very different in scale, despite our focus on Western Australia Business News is significantly larger than the Queensland online publisher, which claimed to be a national player.
On LinkedIn, Business News Australia’s current pages showed four Gold Coast employees and one Sydney-based events contractor, in addition to Ms Westerlund, who was described as founder and managing director.
For comparison, based on St Georges Terrace Business news has approximately 50 employees, of which approximately 20 work in publishing, mainly as journalists and researchers.
Business news also has its own events team that organizes more than a dozen major events and awards ceremonies annually with audiences of 400 or more.
There are four staff who manage our WA events, including two breakfast series – Success & Leadership And Politics and business – as well as two major recognition programs WA Business Awards And 40under40 Awards. There are also regular sector-oriented ones Sector briefings and the upcoming inauguration Leaders Top business conference.
The 40 under 40 Awards was first run in Perth by Business news in 2002 and every year since. Perth-based Business News Pty Ltd has registered the 40under40 trademark and is allowing it to be used under license elsewhere in Australia.
Owned by Western Australians and independent of other media, Business news was first published in 1992, and the company behind it was founded in 1986 as Gloview Pty Ltd, changing its name to News Illustrated Pty Ltd in 1993 and then to Business News Pty Ltd in 2001.
Mr. Caspaney told it Business news that he was appointed this morning and could not yet comment on the circumstances surrounding the liquidation.
No other form of government preceded the liquidation.
It appears Business News Australia has not published anything on its website since Monday.
In a post on LinkedIn, Ms Westerlund said the publishing project began as a print edition on the Gold Coast for more than 20 years before expanding into Young Entrepreneur Awards events in 2008 and then seeking to reach a national market with a digital platform aimed at founders, regional innovators and companies outside the ASX 100.
“Over time, the economics of independent publishing changed in a way that made our model unsustainable,” she said.
“Despite continued adjustments and efforts, the gap between the value of journalism and the returns available continued to widen and ultimately became too large to bridge.”
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