{"id":258518,"date":"2026-01-30T01:11:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T01:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/258518\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T01:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T01:11:08","slug":"nine-sells-radio-stations-including-2gb-and-3aw-to-sydney-pub-baron-arthur-laundy-australia-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/258518\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine sells radio stations including 2GB and 3AW to Sydney pub baron Arthur Laundy | Australia news"},"content":{"rendered":"

The nation\u2019s biggest media company, Nine Entertainment<\/a>, has sold its talkback radio stations to a Sydney pub baron for $56m and bought outdoor advertising company QMS Media for $850m, in a major upheaval for Australia\u2019s media landscape.<\/p>\n

Nine Radio, which owns 2GB, 3AW, 4BC, 6PR, 2UE, Magic1278 and 4BH, has been offloaded as talk radio profits dwindle and the audience skews ever older.<\/p>\n

In a surprise move, the network was bought by billionaire Sydney publican Arthur Laundy, 85, who inherited two pubs in 1969 and grew them into a group of 40 venues worth $1.75bn according to the AFR\u2019s 2025 Rich List<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

His son Craig Laundy, who was a Liberal minister under Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison in 2016 and 2017, manages the family business. He said he wanted to grow it, and continue the important role the radio stations play in the life of everyday Australians.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see strong similarities between hotels and talkback radio,\u201d he said. \u201cPatrons in our venues are at the centre of everything we do and we will have that same ethos with our listeners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine has also converted its wholly owned regional television station NBN in northern NSW to an affiliate station.<\/p>\n

QMS is an outdoor advertising company with a national network of digital billboards, including a lucrative City of Sydney contract. Nine said the outdoor media company will be used to drive subscriptions for the newspapers and promote the streaming service Stan.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaundy is expected to remain a long-term partner of Nine, with plans to utilise Nine News journalists on radio, showcase Stan Sport through Laundy venues, provide promotion and advertising sales collaboration, as well as increased advertising spend by Laundy on Nine properties,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

Nine\u2019s restructure comes after the company sold its stake<\/a> in real estate portal Domain for $1.4bn.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s announcements mark a critical milestone in our Nine2028 transformation,\u201d Nine chief executive officer Matt Stanton said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese transactions will create a more efficient, higher-growth, and digitally powered Nine Group for our consumers, advertisers, shareholders and people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis positions Nine well for the future, enabling the group to withstand industry disruption and deliver long-term sustainable value to our shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine is the publisher of the Australian Financial Review, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age and the owner of Channel Nine.<\/p>\n

Sydney breakfast host Ben Fordham told his 2GB listeners that the sale of the radio stations was \u201cfantastic news\u201d and it would be \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d as the Laundy family \u201clove 2GB\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey treat people well, they\u2019re really good people, and that\u2019s a great start,\u201d Fordham said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been advertising on 2GB for some time, and they know that the advertising works, so they\u2019ve obviously doubled down and thought, righto, we really want to invest in this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fordham said he has known the family for a long time and that they are \u201cdecent, hardworking, knockabout people\u2019.<\/p>\n

Tom Malone, the manager of Nine Radio, told staff to expect to see Arthur and Craig Laundy around the offices.<\/p>\n

The surprise buyer of Nine Radio, who was not mentioned during months of speculation sale, was first flagged by The Australian Financial Review\u2019s Street Talk column.<\/p>\n

Stanton said it was a \u201cgreat outcome\u201d for radio.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t taken this decision lightly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good outcome for our radio employees as the Laundys look to invest in and grow the brands. It\u2019s been heartening to see the passion and enthusiasm Arthur, Craig and the entire Laundy family have for radio and its powerful connection with local audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The nation\u2019s biggest media company, Nine Entertainment, has sold its talkback radio stations to a Sydney pub baron…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-258518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}