Corporate History

WA Business News came to life as a fortnightly newspaper in 1992, offering Western Australia's business people their first taste of an independently owned news format exclusively about them and for them. We were rebranded to Business News in April 2013.

Today, Business News has evolved to become Western Australia's leading general business news and information service.

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

In 2000, Harry sought new investors who joined the team and were represented on the operational side of the business by Executive Director, Elton Swarts, who now holds the position of Executive Chairman.

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

The next stage of development was to address the newspaper's editorial department, which was expanded in line with the change to a weekly format and the higher demands for quality.

Business News recognised its ongoing success relied on editorial quality and within 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 2003, the 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 an award at the Alliance of Area Business Publication's Annual Editorial Excellence Awards. The Alliance represents a peer group of business-focused publications world-wide and the award recognised Business News' high standards against long standing competition. In presenting the Award the judging panel stated that 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, Business News has successfully won several other editorial awards: 2005 Best Small Tabloid, Bronze and Best Scoop, Bronze; 2007 Best Special Section Design; 2009 Best Front Page; and 2015 Best Daily Email. This focus on quality fostered another offering to readers beyond the written word – events.

The Business News Events Department, which commenced in 2001, has grown into a significant part of the company. Signature events such as the 40under40 Awards search for young business talent. Business News events assist the Editorial Department to seek out locally based success stories celebrating business achievements in Western Australia. The Success and Leadership series has allowed Perth audiences access to some of WA's most prominent business leaders.

Mindful that the importance of a subscription-based circulation model in assuring delivery direct to the office desk, 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, which was first published in 1996.

A decade later, in 2013, the publisher managed another transition from free to paid by shifting its data into a new search engine within the Business News website. Called BNiQ, this business development tool allowed Business News to erect a paywall that only allowed subscribers to access its content. This digital transformation has only been successfully attempted by a few premium publishers.

From January 2016, the in-depth printed edition returned to fortnightly distribution, recognising the change in the media mix due to website news and BNiQ data offering.

In 2020 Business News began to adapt once again to the changing market and launched the new website along with and additional subscriber feature, MYBN and a rebrand of BNiQ to Data and Insights. 

Against all the challenges of a global pandemic Business News continued to grow resulting in a complete brand refresh, podcast launch, app update, event series launch and hosting the iconic Post Budget Breakfast with premier Mark McGowan.