This News Publisher Quit Facebook. Readership Went Up

Last year, in the middle of the pandemic, Sinead Boucher offered $1 to buy Stuff, New Zealand's largest news publisher.

Boucher was already the company's chief executive and was worried that its Australian media owner would shut down the publisher. Things had started to look really grim: The economy had ground to a halt and advertising revenue had evaporated.

"I knew that they ... would potentially just decide to wind us up," said Boucher. "So it was just a punt."

The punt worked. The Australian company accepted the offer of 1 New Zealand dollar, worth about 70 U.S. cents. Just like that, in May, Boucher found herself the owner of the most popular news website in New Zealand and about 50 local, regional and national newspapers and magazines.

One of the first decisions she made as owner was to break up with Facebook.