Malaysian Insider follows suit after Rakyat Post
Published on: Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Kuala Lumpur: The Edge Media Group (TEMG) said Monday that it failed to get buyers to take over The Malaysian Insider (TMI), which will shut down from midnight, that cost the media outfit some RM10 million in losses.TEMG publisher and Group CEO Ho Kay Tat said TEMG was approached by three parties, all of whom had existing media businesses, who were interested in taking over TMI, adding that there was also a management buyout (MBO) offer. "Unfortunately, we were unable to reach an agreement with any of the external parties as well as for the MBO to take place.
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"We believe the recent problems TMI had with The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had made it more difficult for a sale to be concluded even though discussions had started before that," said Ho in a statement.Recently, the Rakyat Post, another news portal, also wound up due to funding problems.The government recently blocked access to TMI, with Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak alleging that the news portal had caused public "confusion" with an article quoting an unnamed source from a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) advisery panel.Ho said 59 TMI staff in the layoff would receive a severance package, but did not specify the quantum.
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According to Ho, TEMG could no longer afford to keep TMI running after the media outfit incurred losses of about RM10 million since acquiring the news portal in June 2014. TMI was set up about eight years ago in February 2008.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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"Despite the fact that TMI is one of the top three news portals based on traffic in Malaysia, it did not receive enough commercial support to keep it going."
