Vinyl follows Pedestrian deal with Time Out Australia acquisition

Vinyl Group has signed an agreement to acquire Time Out Australia for nominal consideration, just one day after announcing its acquisition of Pedestrian from Nine Digital.

The media and music business will acquire the entire issued share capital of Print & Digital Publishing from Time Out Group, known locally as Time Out England.

Vinyl will take over operations of Time Out Australia across digital platforms, social media and events, while entering a long-term franchise agreement with Time Out England.

Under the agreement, Time Out England will receive an ongoing revenue royalty rate and annual minimum guarantees for the Australian market.

The franchise agreement has an initial five-year term with automatic annual renewals unless terminated.

Completion is expected on 24 June, subject to a 14-day cooling-off period.

The deal comes immediately after Vinyl announced it would acquire Pedestrian from Nine Digital for nominal consideration, adding Pedestrian.TV, Pedestrian Jobs, Openair Cinemas and Pedestrian Studio to its portfolio.

Vinyl said Time Out Australia’s digital platforms, social media assets and events business are highly complementary to its existing Concrete Playground operation.

Josh Simons, CEO and executive director of Vinyl, said the Time Out deal adds another culture brand to the company’s media portfolio.

“This is a highly strategic acquisition that brings one of the world’s most iconic culture brands into the Vinyl Media portfolio,” Simons said.

“Time Out strengthens our position at the intersection of content and real-world experiences, and expands our reach into high-value audiences across Australia. It is another important step in building a scaled, premium publishing platform.”

Rob Biagioni, CEO of Time Out Media, said Australia remains an important territory for the brand.

“Australia is an important territory for Time Out, and we're proud of the business and audience we have built over many years,” Biagioni said.

Time Out is pursuing a franchise model in selected local markets, partnering with local media operators that have audience insight, commercial relationships and operating scale in return for an ongoing royalty fee.