Fairfax sells InvestSmart for $7m, after buying it for $12m
Six years after buying InvestSmart for $12m and merging it with its existing Direct Access managed funds service, Fairfax Media is to sell the business for $7m.
The company has agreed to sell the business to Australian Wealth Investments, saying the financial services portal will sit better with a financial services provider. Fairfax told the ASX that the decision was triggered by reforms to legislation around the provision of financial advice.
If the deal goes through, Fairfax will continue to sell display advertising on the site.
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So InvestSmart not really a smart investment, as it turns out…
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oh the irony!
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Sack the board. They are an absolute disgrace.
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The question: what strategy is Fairfax following? Hywood has been talking up online transactions versus dying print for two years. The company hss spent gazillions on strategy consultants and big ego types like Mr ECorp.
Now they sell an investment transaction site at the very time that FOFA might have made it valuable.
Does this mean the whole business media dominance Fairfax has had is now redundant to strategy?
Or is the Corbett/Hywood combo simply inept???
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It’s one divestment everyone – don’t read too much into it.
There is an argument however, that right now FXJ is pumping too much money into those who claim to have the answers (strategy consultants, some ‘talent’ acquisitions) and not enough into building things people care about.
One creates expenses, the other creates assets. FXJ needs more of the latter and less of the former right now.
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