Former Nine/Fairfax execs to launch VC-backed subscription news business Scire
Former Nine and Fairfax publishing heavyweights, Chris Janz and David Eisman are launching a new subscription news platform named Scire, Mumbrella can reveal.
After it was reported last month that the pair had received funding from Sydney-based private equity firm, Shearwater Capital, for a ‘mystery Start-up’, it can now be revealed to be a news service.
Chris Janz [right] speaking at Mumbrella Publish Conference in 2019
Scire’s beta website went live today, saying: “It’s no secret Australia has one of the most concentrated media industries in the developed world.
“In other English-speaking markets, new journalism outlets underpinned by innovative business models have emerged, bringing audiences additional choice. But in Australia the information landscape is still dominated by a handful of legacy corporations founded many decades ago.
“There are reasons to be alarmed about this situation, particularly when trust in the news media is declining and the integrity of the information we consume is under threat.
“We believe Australia deserves better.
“With the right people and partners there is an opportunity to build a generational company with Australian journalism at its core. One that will add depth and diversity to the national conversation and help shape the future of our economy.
Screenshot from scire.au
“Scire will be outward looking and not parochial, future facing and not rooted in the past, and committed to trust and transparency.”
The company is now actively hiring for journalists. Janz declined to comment further when approached by Mumbrella.
The company also states it is welcoming “conversations with like-minded commercial partners as we shape the future of Australian journalism”.
Janz led Fairfax’s ‘Blue Team’ in 2016, tasked with injecting life back into the media company’s metro publishing titles by working up a new business model, effectively saving the newspapers.
CEO of Nine, Mike Sneesby said in 2021: “Five years ago, the Herald, The Age and the Financial Review were facing considerable challenges brought on by structural change in the industry. Under Chris’ leadership, they have transformed into thriving businesses with record audiences.”
Following the completion of the project, Janz was appointed MD of metro publishing at Fairfax, and then chief digital and publishing officer following the company’s merger with Nine in 2018, a role he served in until his departure in 2021. Eisman was also appointed director of subscriptions and growth following the merger.
Janz and Eisman have been working together since both of their departures from Nine, last year being hired by the New Zealand publishing sector to help broker commercial deals with Google and Meta, similar to those agreed in Australia.
The pair also worked alongside the ACCC to help the implementation of the media bargaining laws, the framework surrounding deals with Google and Meta, with Janz also leading Nine’s negotiations with the platforms.
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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He will shake things up
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Aren’t Eisman and Janz the Nine execs who wanted to run a legacy media business until Sneesby got the top job?
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