A company co-founded by Australian media personality David Koch has been sold to a digital media company for an undisclosed sum.
SmartCompany parent company Private Media announced it had acquired Pinstripe Media, which was established in 2007 by Koch, a journalist and publisher who hosted the Seven Network breakfast program Sunrise for 21 years, and his wife Libby Koch.
Pinstripe Media publishes small business and startup publications including Startup Daily, Flying Solo, Business Builders, which was previously known as Kochie’s Business Builders, and consumer finance publication Your Money & Your Life.
These four titles will join the Private Media stable of publications, which includes Crikey, The Mandarin and Pinstripe’s bespoke content agency offering.
No redundancies are expected to be made following the deal, according to a statement on the Private Media website.
The two companies said Business Builders, Start-up Daily and Flying Solo would retain their editorial independence and brand identities but collaborate to create more value for audiences and partners.
David Koch, better known as Kochie, will be a strategic adviser to the business, and will continue to act as a presenter and commentator on the network.
They said the group would combine the publications’ daily business journalism, specialist creative services, events, TV production and “a shared commitment to helping Australian businesses succeed”.
Private Media CEO Will Hayward said small and medium-sized businesses, start-ups and scale-ups generated more than half of gross domestic product and employed most Australians but remained underserved by the traditional media.
Pinstripe Media Managing Director AJ Koch said the deal was “an opportunity for our people to do their best work at an even greater scale”.
“We’ve always believed in building authentic relationships with Australia’s business community,” he said in a statement.
“By joining forces with Private Media, we can scale that mission, deliver even greater value to clients and audiences, and unlock new opportunities for our teams.”
