‘Digital first’ the way forward for RG Group, says chairman
Published:Thursday | October 24, 2024 | 12:11 AMNeville Graham/Staff Reporter
Chairman of the RJRGLEANER Communications (RG) Group Joseph M. Matalon is pointing to a “digital first’ way of doing business as the media conglomerate seeks to grapple with increased competition and two years of real losses totalling nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars. The RJRGLEANER Group suffered a net loss of $529 million for the financial year ended March 2024, representing a $779-million reversal of the $250-million profit for the year ended March 2023.
In recording the $250-million profit in 2023, the Group benefited from the amalgamation with 1834 Investments, the remnant investment arm of the Gleaner Company, which previously, had merged with the RJR Group. A bargain purchase gain of $444 million represented a one-off instance based on the amalgamation, meaning that the year ended March 2023 would have shown a loss if this one-off item were taken out.
Speaking to shareholders at yesterday’s annual general meeting at the Terra Nova All Suites Hotel, Matalon said the RG Group was moving away from legacy structures and cultures that no longer served the company, noting that the integration of Radio Jamaica Ltd and The Gleaner Company Ltd in 2016 was just a first step that has not had the necessary energy behind the follow-through.
The chairman called for an acceleration of efforts to function as a truly unified, agile organisation capable of adapting in real time to the fast-paced changes in the environment. He said this would mean breaking down internal silos and fostering cross-functional collaboration while instilling a shared culture of innovation and forward thinking, with a focus on the consumer. Matalon said this means not only embracing digital-first strategies, but fully embedding them into the RG Group’s DNA.
“We must see ourselves not as a legacy media company adapting to digital, but as a digital media company leveraging our powerful, trusted brands to deliver value in new and exciting ways. Our road map is clear,” the chairman asserted.
Matalon said the rollout of Next-Gen TV and the introduction of new revenue streams, such as diaspora services and digital top-ups, are examples of how the RG Group can leverage both technology and available market opportunities. He noted that the recent appointment of a head of digital business, Beverly Thompson, as well as having a dedicated digital product manager, are ways of putting the necessary leadership in place to drive these initiatives forward.
Turning to recent AI-generated attacks on Gleaner Company journalists, Matalon said company transformation should not and would not come at the expense of the integrity of the company’s journalism. He decried recent attempts at propagating misinformation in social media. The chairman said it is intended to impugn journalistic integrity while targeting journalists by name.
“We will not be moved. For, ladies and gentlemen, we are neither orange nor green, but rather we are black, green, and gold,” Matalon declared to applause, adding that the mission is, and will always be, to serve the Jamaican public here and in the diaspora by providing reliable, balanced, and timely news and commentary across all platforms, whether traditional or digital.
New media landscape
In her report to shareholders, Chief Financial Officer Carla Stephens-Hall explained that the company losses and continued anaemic performance are symptomatic of a communications group having to grapple with the new realities of the media landscape.
Stephens-Hall said as much as the company would love it, advertisers have not come back to their pre-pandemic spending levels. She reported that revenues had a marginal increase of roughly $54 million or about one per cent for financial year ended March 2024. She said most segments showed improvements, with audio-visual showing an improvement of $55 million and the audio segment showing an increase of $44 million but that this was offset by a reduction in the print segment, which had a loss of $44 million.
Stephens-Hall reasons that the world has evolved while the environment and the appetite of the advertisers are changing with a shift towards digital media, added to increased competition in the media landscape. She says the RG Group can reverse the trend by leveraging its quality products and meeting the demands with its strong brand.
“Our efforts in the future will be focused on improving the marketing of our great products, developing some new ones, enhancing our digital presence, and reaping the benefits of our investment in technology in a meaningful way,” Stephens-Hall outlined in her prescription for improved revenues in the future.
In charting the way forward, CEO Anthony Smith said it could not be business as usual.
“The financial results that we have produced over the past, in recent times, is saying that we can’t continue the same way. We can’t just slowly make little changes at the edge. [It is saying] that we have to do fundamental changes,” Smith charged.
He said there is an urgent need to move away from being two companies with a single owner to one of operating as one company and the synergies and benefits along with the cost-saving that can come from such a mode of operation.
“We want to increasingly move the culture away from ‘us’ and ‘them’ to a more family-integrated culture,” the CEO said as he detailed six imperatives for growth of the RG Group.
“One is to create a high-performing culture. The second is to reduce the cost base of the company. The third is to create new revenue initiatives, grow revenue. The fourth is a rollout of next-generation or digital TV. The fifth is implement a new operating system; and the sixth is to grow more digital business,” Smith told shareholders before elaborating by citing various initiatives aimed at activating the six-point plan.
He said that while the RG Group is focusing on the six imperatives, the company would not shrink from its leadership position in various areas of the media industry to include free-to-air TV, print, and radio.
Smith said it was not unusual for a company to go through rough times as the RG Group is going through now. He said the company would not be daunted and shrink into inaction.
“We’re going to follow our strategy and move the company in the right direction. We also recognise that the changes that we make must be measured. It must be structured, and it must also be quick,” Smith said.