The Malaysian Insider to Lose Many Key Staff to Rival

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The Malaysian Insider to lose many key staff to rival

Nation The Edge MalaysiaFZGRAPHICS

PETALING J AYA (J une 12): Staff of The Malaysian Insider (TMI) are walking out on thefive-year-old news website to start a new company that will run the rival web portal of The Malay

Mail newspaper. The brother and sister team of Leslie Lau and J oan Lau will lead the team of 30 who will leaveTMI for Trinity Diligence Sdn Bhd, which has been contracted to managewww.themalaymailonline.com

Interestingly, The Malay Mail newspaper has a content sharing agreement with another news

The Malaysian Insider (TMI) are walking out on th e five-year-old news websi te to

start a new company that wil l run the rival web portal o f The Malay Mail

newspaper.

Malaysian Insider to lose many key staff to r ival http:/ /fz.com/print/content/malaysian-insider-lose-many-key-

12/6/2013



portal MalaysiaKini.

"The print team and online team (of The Malay Mail) will be managed separately and the Insiderteam coming over will have no impact on the print partnership with MalaysiaKini," said a sourcefamiliar with what was happening. Sources say the move, first reported by www.fz.comon April 23, was triggered by increasingdifferences between the TMI editorial team and its financiers on its editorial direction, especially

during the run up to the May 5 General Election.

This, combined with very persistent wooing by the people behind The Malay Mail group, finallyled to the collective decision to leave.

TMI was started in December 2007 by a group of businessmen and journalists close to thenPrime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as a counter balance against MalaysiaKini, whichwas deemed to be unfriendly to the Barisan Nasional (BN). But after Abdullah stepped down in 2009, the group stopped the financing and the TMI topmanagement, after talking to several people, eventually got funding with help from a30-something Penang-born businessman with close ties to the current BN leadership. The Malay Mail newspaper is privately controlled by Datuk Siew Ka Wei who, through his listedcompany Ancom Bhd, owns the Redberry Group which has in-store and outdoor advertisingplatforms. Chan Thye Seng, the CEO and Managing Director of general insurer Pacific & Orient Bhd,which has an 18% stake in Ancom, is believed to have been the person who negotiated with the TMI team to cross over.

The deal was sealed after months of discussions and only after it was agreed that instead of being employees of The Malay Mail, the TMI team will form a new company to run the website. The Laus will be the main shareholders of Trinity. When contacted, Chan said: "I have no comments to give you." Since buying The Malay Mail four-years-ago, Siew has changed its management team andbusiness model a few times, including from being a free to a paid newspaper. Among those whonow work for him are media industry veterans Lee Yew Meng, one time head of advertisingsales at The Star , and Rajjish Verron, who was formerly with MBf Cards.

Sources say Siew has also just signed on the Executive Editor of The Star , Datuk Wong SaiWan, to be Director of Special Projects for The Redberry Group. Several months back, anothersenior newsman, Datuk Syed Nadzri Syed Harun joined from The News Straits Times Press. "He has some heavyweights batting for him. But he has to get them to bat in sync instead of taking swings in different directions," says one media observer. Industry analysts say the media landscape is heading for interesting times with re-alignmentsand businessmen sinking more money into it, despite the stiff competition and challenges facingthe industry.


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A new player, HCK Media Sdn Bhd owned by former Star Publications Executive DeputChairman Tan Sri Clement Hii, is expected to start a news portal call www.theantdaily.comverysoon as well as a weekly lifestyle magazine.

The Malaysian Insider (TMI) The Malay MailLeslie Lau

J oan Laupinch staff

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Redberry makes offer to Malaysian Insider staff Insider denies report, slams fz.com

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Source URL (ret rieved on 06/12/2013 - 13:54): http://fz.com/content/malaysian-insider-lose-many-key-staff-rival


12/6/2013

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The Malaysian Insider to Lose Many Key Staff to Rival