Will Stuff staff get their 10%?

Stuff owner Sinead Boucher has sold 50% of Stuff Digital to Trade Me, which in turn is 100% owned by Apax Partners, a British private equity firm with around US$77 billion in assets.

Good on Boucher. I have no issue with foreign investment in media companies. The discipline they may bring to Stuff Digital could be very good for them.

In 2021, Stuff reported:

Stuff owner and chief executive Sinead Boucher is gifting a 10 per cent share of the media firm to the company’s close to 900 staff.

The stake in the company will be transferred to a trust controlled by employee representatives, rather than the shares being directly owned by staff members.

The arrangement means staff would receive through the trust a share of any dividends Stuff pays out, and 10 per cent of the sale proceeds if Stuff was later sold or listed, she said.

This never happened, as it was later modified to happening if any shares were sold or exited. Presumably this has happened, so we will see 10% of Stuff Digital transferred to a staff trust?

Radio NZ report:

After Boucher bought Stuff for $1 in 2020, she told staff that a 10 percent stake of the company would be put into a staff trust in the event that the business was sold or listed.

A spokesperson said that, while there was still some time until the deal was to be completed, it was Boucher’s expectation that a payment would be made into the staff trust.

A payment? Would it be a payment equal to one fifth of what Trade Me paid? Shouldn’t it be non-voting shares of 10% of Stuff Digital, rather than a payment? After all, that is what was promised?