Storyful moves Hong Kong operations to Sydney office in business restructure
News Corp-owned Storyful has shuttered its Hong Kong office with responsibility for East Asian reporting taken over by the company’s Sydney office.
The closure of the Hong Kong office comes as the founding editor-in-chief of business site Stockhead, David Higgins, was announced as the news verification service’s Australian senior editor.
Storyful’s former Asia editor Iain Martin tweeted the Hong Kong office’s entire editorial team had been been let go last week as part of a global realignment of the service, which sees a greater focus on the Australian, North American and European markets.
A Storyful spokesperson told Mumbrella: “This strategic move is part of our long-term editorial vision to deliver the highest quality verified news, social intelligence, and high-impact investigative journalism to our partners.
“We continue to recruit around the world, with further expansion of our teams in Australia, Europe including Dublin, and the US this year.”
Mumbrella understands the headcount at the Sydney office will not be changed as a result of the Hong Kong closure.
The Irish-founded service was acquired by News Corp in 2013 for €18 million and former media editor of the The Australian, Darren Davidson, was appointed as the division’s editor-in-chief in November last year.
In February last year, Storyful’s chief executive officer Sharb Farjami – himself a News Corp Australia veteran – told Irish business website Fora that the company was going through a difficult adolescence, with News Corp injecting nearly €18m into the business over the previous two years.
Under News Corp’s ownership, Storyful’s headcount has gone from 30 staff to nearly 200 globally.
