Edge losses of RM10mil contributed to TMI closure

PETALING JAYA: The Edge Media Group (TEMG) confirms that The Malaysian Insider (TMI) news portal will cease operations.

“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,” said Group Chief Executive Officer and Publisher The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd Ho Kay Tat (pic) in a statement on Monday.

“In the 20 months since acquiring TMI in June 2014, TEMG has incurred losses of around RM10 million and we are no longer in a position to keep it going,” he said.

After announcing that TEMG would be disposing off TMI as part of a restructuring exercise, TEMG was approached by three external parties of whom all had existing media businesses and also an offer for a management buy-out (MBO).

“Unfortunately, we were unable to reach an agreement with any of the external parties as well as for the MBO to take place,” he said.

“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,” he added.

The whole TMI staff which consist of 59 people will be let go and will receive a severance package as required by law.

“The closure of TMI should serve as a reminder to those of us in the media industry as well as the public at large that good journalism cannot be sustained without commercial support. When good journalism stops, society is the loser,” he said.