WA Business News corporate history

WA Business News came to life as a fortnightly newspaper in 1993, offering the state’s business people their first taste of an independently owned news format exclusively about them and for them.

Established by Harry Kleyn, the founding partner of the Community Newspaper Group, and his business partners Vanguard Press, WA Business News found a healthy niche as a free circulation newspaper almost exclusively circulated in the Perth CBD.

In 2000, Harry sought new investors to help propel the newspaper to another level and soon teamed up with new partners, represented on the operational side of the business by executive director Elton Swarts.

This event was a catalyst to major change at the newspaper. Within months the company relocated to its current premises in Beaufort Street, formed a team that began in-house digital design and layout of the newspaper, and launched in a weekly format.

There were also some significant changes made to the look of the paper. Printing was transferred to Colourpress, with a resultant improvement in the quality of newsprint from 45 GSM to 52 GSM, which provides a cleaner, smoother, whiter finish. Combined with the benefits of the electronic production process, these changes resulted in a striking improvement in colour reproduction.

The next stage of development was to address the newspaper’s editorial department, which needed to expand in line with the change to a weekly format and the higher demands for quality that came with that shift.

Towards the end of 2000, finance journalist Mark Pownall joined the team with a decade-long background in daily business in WA and weekly commercial press in the UK.

WA Business News recognised its success relies on editorial quality. In two years the editorial department grew from three journalists to seven, covering almost every aspect of industry in WA and offering a news focus unmatched by any other media.

In July 2003, that investment in resources for both the editorial and design departments bore fruit with the paper winning a major award by beating a large international field to secure a bronze prize at the Alliance of Area Business Publication’s Annual Editorial Excellence Awards. The Alliance represents 65 business-focused publications world-wide and the award recognised WA Business News’ high standards against competition that had been around for much longer.

In presenting the Award the judging panel stated that WA Business News was a publication “with attitude, bold in content and design and, therefore, well-suited for the region it serves”. Since the first award in 2003, WA Business News has successfully won another 2 editorial awards in 2005; Best Small Tabloid, Bronze and Best Scoop; Bronze. This focus on quality helped foster another offering to readers beyond the written word – Events.

Commencing in 2001 the WA Business News Events Department has grown into a significant part of the company.

Signature events such as the 40under40 search for young business talent. They assist the editorial department seek out locally based success stories celebrating business achievements in our State and the Success and Leadership series has allowed Perth audiences access to some of WA’s most prominent business leaders. In 2003, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade teamed up with WA Business News to launch the unique Meet the Ambassadors series connecting Australian ambassadors with WA’s international traders.

Mindful that the importance of a subscription-based circulation model in assuring delivery direct to the office desk, WA Business News began converting its free circulation list to paid subscription in 2002. A high value subscription package was crafted to include the highly sought after Book of Lists.

The conversion to paid circulation is tracking ahead of estimates based on the US business model with the conclusion in 2004 of the last round of free, door-to-door circulation. From the advertisers’ perspective, the value of a paid vs. free paper has made WA Business News an even more attractive vehicle in which to advertise.

In 2005 AC Nielsen was commissioned to undertake their fourth readership survey of WA Business News and response to the extensive questionnaire was outstanding.

The survey found, among other things, that the newspaper had a:

total readership of 59,196
39% readers are CEOs, MDs
83% senior managers
91% readers are decisions makers
79% of readers invest more than 15 minutes reading WA Business News each week

The goal for WA Business News and its team in going forward is simple - our aim is to provide news that assists, motivates and inspires Western Australians to do more business.

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