SPH Media Trust

On May 6, 2021, following a strategic review announced on March 30, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) unveiled a plan to move its media business into a new wholly owned subsidiary, SPH Media Holdings Pte Ltd, and then transfer it for a nominal sum to a newly formed public company limited by guarantee.⁠[1]

SPH would contribute S$80 million in cash, S$30 million worth of SPH shares and SPH REIT units, and its stakes in four digital media investments. SPH said media operating revenue had roughly halved over five years and the business posted its first-ever loss, S$11.4 million, in the financial year ended August 31, 2020.⁠[2]

At the time, blue chips such as OCBC, Great Eastern Life Assurance and Singtel held the majority of SPH’s management shares.⁠[3]

Former transport minister Khaw Boon Wan came out of retirement to chair the company limited by guarantee. On May 12 he announced that Patrick Daniel, who had stepped down as SPH deputy CEO in 2017, would serve as interim CEO.⁠[4]

In September 2021 SPH Media Trust announced that The New Paper would stop its print edition and go fully digital from December 11.⁠[5]

That month it also announced that Lianhe Wanbao would merge with Shin Min Daily News, with Lianhe Wanbao’s last edition on December 24, 2021. Khaw Boon Wan said digitalisation had increased demand for instant access to news.⁠[6]

SPH’s full-year results showed that media revenue for the financial year ended August 31, 2021, fell by S$85.8 million (17.5%), including a S$37.6 million drop in advertising revenue, and that media restructuring costs across FY2021 and FY2022 would total S$243.3 million.⁠[7]

On December 1, 2021, SPH announced that the media business restructuring was complete and that the holding company of the media business had been transferred to SPH Media Trust, a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, for a nominal S$1.⁠[8]

On February 7, 2022, SPH Media Trust named Teo Lay Lim, 58, CEO of SPH Media Group from March 1, succeeding Patrick Daniel. Teo had spent 30 years at Accenture and was chief executive of Accenture Southeast Asia from 2011 to 2020.⁠[9]

Khaw Boon Wan said she “has an acute sense of creating opportunities for commercial growth,” and thanked Daniel for leading the restructuring of the media business into a not-for-profit structure.⁠[10]

The appointment ended a nine-month succession process.⁠[11]

On February 16, 2022, Communications Minister Josephine Teo said in Parliament that the government would give SPH Media Trust up to S$180 million a year for five years if it met key performance indicators, including total reach and engagement on digital platforms, reach among vernacular groups and youths, and the resilience of flagship products; she said it would likely be loss-making during the transition.⁠[12]

In March 2022 SPH Media began an internal review of processes covering September 2020 to March 2022.⁠[13]

In January 2023 SPH Media said the review had found daily circulation inflated by 85,000 to 95,000 copies, through double-counting of subscriptions, copies printed, counted and destroyed, and extra funding injected into a project account to buy fictitious circulation; some senior employees had been taken to task or had left.⁠[14]

The previous month, four employees had left over the matter and three others had received warning letters.⁠[15]

On January 10, CEO Teo Lay Lim informed advertisers that circulation data was not the basis for advertising packages.⁠[13]

The government began its review after SMT shared its internal report on January 9. The minister said the events took place before SMT was formed, while the media business was under SPH; no funds had yet been disbursed, the funding decision and amount were unchanged, and the amount would be reviewed at mid-term.⁠[16]

Josephine Teo said: “This does not make it right for anyone to overstate circulation numbers, but it reaffirms the need for restructuring.”⁠[17]

She said demand for print and digital subscriptions had weakened because news had become freely available, and that the government’s funding assessment focused on readership and reach rather than circulation.⁠[17]

In June 2023 the report of an investigation by SMT’s audit and risk committee with law firm Allen & Gledhill and Deloitte was published, and SMT filed a police report on its recommendations. On July 6 Josephine Teo said in Parliament that several findings pointed to possible offences and that the police were investigating; some funding had been disbursed since March 2023 and could be ended if serious wrongdoing were found.⁠[18]

SMT acquired Tech In Asia, a business tech news publication, raising questions about the use of government funding and media consolidation; the government said the deal fit the goals of its SMT funding.⁠[19]

On April 8, 2024, the Public Service Division announced that Health Ministry permanent secretary Chan Yeng Kit would be seconded to SPH Media as CEO from July 15, replacing the retiring Teo Lay Lim. Josephine Teo had said in Parliament that SPH Media missed some key performance indicator targets for FY2023 and so did not receive the full funding committed.⁠[20]

In October 2025 SMT shut the tabloid The New Paper and merged it into STOMP.⁠[21]

The Straits Times: Official website: https://www.straitstimes.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[22]