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News Corp Australia in talks to acquire small-cap ASX shares website, Stockhead

News Corp Australia is in talks to acquire small-cap ASX news website Stockhead.

Mumbrella understands the media giant has been in discussions with Stockhead, an independent business news publication dedicated to connecting investors with emerging ASX-listed companies.

Stockhead CEO and founder, David Greer, told Mumbrella: “We have been having discussions with News [Corp] over recent months and things are definitely moving in a positive direction.

“There are exciting opportunities for us to potentially work together and we hope to solidify a formal partnership in due course.”

“It would be misleading to say that anything concrete has been agreed at this stage but we are looking forward to continuing our dialogue with the News team,” Greer said.

Stockhead founder Greer also co-founded PR consultancy Media + Capital Partners, but recently stepped back from his position on the executive team to be replaced by Tracey Sen.

In FY2021, News Corp reported its “most profitable” financial year, in its current form, with revenues rising 4% in the full year and up 30% in the fourth quarter. Revenues were US$9.36 billion, compared to US$9.01 billion in the prior year.

Profitability improved by 26% for the year, due to a record number of digital subscriptions. Net income was US$389 million compared to a net loss of US$1.55 billion in the prior year, which included non-cash impairment charges of US$1.69 billion.

In October, News Corp acquired a major stake in video company, Visual Domain, and prior to this, in August, acquired oil digital data and analytics provider, OPIS for A$1.55 billion. News Corp’s new regional TV news channel in Australia, Sky News Regional also launched in August.

This week, News Corp, also launched a digital publication aimed at delivering daily in-depth sports coverage from around the world.

The media organisation said the new website and app, called Code, will be subscriber-based with prices from A$8.99 a month.

Mumbrella has reached out to News Corp for a comment.

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