APN endorses digital with new assets

Friendorse is now 25 percent owned by APN

APN News & Media has beefed up its digital assets, acquiring a 25 percent stake in online recommendation site, Friendorse.

The announcement comes as part of wider, two-deal investment with venture capital outfit Pollenizer, which specialises in start-up technology businesses.

APN said the decision to buy a stake in Friendorse followed a trial.

Friendorse is designed to be a community-based site for users to endorse local businesses.

“Part of APN’s strategy for our regional publishing businesses is to provide more services and useful local information relating directly to those communities,” APN chief development officer Matt Crockett said.

“The Friendorse model is a good fit with that strategy.”

The move follows the decision last November to take two papers, the Coffs Coast Advocate and the Tweed Daily News, from daily editions to weekly.

The Tweed Daily News, which had a circulation of 3,000, now publishes a print edition only on Saturdays, with daily coverage published online.

At the time, the publisher said the changes were part of a “digital first” strategy.

APN has digital investments include e-commerce site GrabOne and online retail advertising network CC Media. It owns nine other web portals across Australia and New Zealand.

Pollenizer has co-founded more than 25 online companies, including group buying website Spreets, which was acquired by Yahoo!7 a year ago.

APN and Pollenizer aim to jointly fund a program to search for new digital business models that match APN’s core activities.