News Corp considers acquiring agricultural mastheads from ACM
- News Corp has reportedly begun preliminary due diligence to acquire The Land and related agricultural publications from Australian Community Media.
- Media executives Antony Catalano and Alex Waislitz previously purchased the Australian Community Media network from Nine Entertainment for $125 million in 2019.
- The potential transaction aims to expand News Corp's existing rural media footprint while allowing Australian Community Media to raise capital and reduce financial losses.
News Corp (ASX:NWS) has reportedly opened the books on Australian Community Media’s flagship agricultural masthead, The Land, which reaches almost 100,000 weekly print readers and 52,700 monthly online readers.
The preliminary deal talks follow Australian Community Media's parent entity reporting a loss of almost $8 million on $192 million in revenue for the financial year ended June 2025.
Australian Community Media is also listing its former headquarters and printing facility in North Richmond for sale with an expected value of $25 million for potential data centre development.
Following the announcement, the News Corp share price was unchanged at $45.19.
The duo's original strategy aimed to leverage regional mastheads to launch digital marketplaces to compete directly against platforms like realestate.com.au.
News Corp currently holds exposure in the Australian agricultural publishing market through its ownership of Melbourne-based rural newspaper The Weekly Times.
