The Business Times and Tech in Asia marriage: Here’s what you can expect

ON A sultry midday a few months ago, my boss and I met three of the leaders of Tech in Asia (TIA) at a secluded restaurant in Dempsey. 

We’ve known TIA’s editor-in-chief Terence Lee for a while, but it was the first time we’ve met him, founder Willis Wee and chief operating officer Maria Li together. Over a casual lunch, we exchanged notes about the challenges we face and the dreams we have. After that, my boss asked me: “So, how?”

“Yeah, I think we can work together,” I replied. 

That conversation kick-started several management meetings and due diligence engagements. Two board presentations were made and by end-October, we obtained the green light from the SPH Media board for the acquisition of Tech in Asia to accelerate the regional growth of The Business Times (BT). 

Ever since the acquisition was announced on Nov 1, our contacts have been sending us congratulatory messages.

Some who follow us closely could immediately see the complementary strengths that both sides bring to the table. BT’s award-winning Garage vertical offers the investor’s perspectives to the startup scene, while TIA’s regional reach provides access to a vibrant tech community. 

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Some warned us against letting the startup culture of TIA be overshadowed by the corporate culture of SPH Media. And a few friends too surfaced their self-interests by asking for discounts to their digital subscriptions. 

So what can users expect?

For those who asked earlier, yes, we are considering bundling discounts to subscribers who top up their existing subscriptions with the title that they don’t already have. If you have never read TIA and want to have a sampling of its content, you can now find them on BT. This is possible as we have started exchanging articles with each other. 

Our events teams on both sides are also planning to organise new events together this year. Tech and business will of course be the underlying themes, with the programming to be created jointly. We will be able to tap the domain knowledge of the journalists in three newsrooms – BT, TIA and TIA Indonesia – as well as experts from our combined networks.

Clients will have an expanded platform to amplify their brands. While BT’s audience base is largely in Singapore, TIA’s users are spread across South-east Asia, India and the US.

In Indonesia, TIA has a standalone editorial team as well as a commercial unit that takes care of events, branded content and sponsorships. In fact, its flagship Tech in Asia Conference in Jakarta typically draws some 4,500 to 6,000 delegates a year. 

You may also see some features of TIA incorporated onto BT’s platforms, such as an article-generating bot and a channel for posting press releases. 

There are opportunities to create new products together as well. Perhaps a new AI tool, or an automation product? A joint podcast title? A seminar on careers of the future, in partnership with BT’s young audience product Thrive? How about a networking event that brings family business owners together with startup founders touting their innovations? The possibilities are many. 

No doubt, for all these ideas to come to fruition, teams from both entities need to come together. There will be cultural diffusion and it will be critical to manage the relationships and communications carefully.

The comforting part is that the leaders share similar values and beliefs. We value integrity, hard work, open-mindedness and building respectful relationships with our audiences and stakeholders. We believe in financial self-sustainability, teamwork and being digitally informed. Most of all, we want to grow our brands in the region. 

Friendly parties have pointed out that the majority of mergers and acquisitions do not achieve the expected results, mostly due to reasons related to acquisition costs and post-acquisition integration.

Successful M&As

Yet, there have also been examples of successful M&As, such as Walt Disney’s 2006 purchase of Pixar that gave the former modern animation techniques coupled with an innovative culture. On the other hand, Disney brought with it a well-established distribution network and financial strength.

There’s also Google’s acquisition of Android which allowed it to develop an operating system that is now the leading platform for mobile devices. Closer to home, we have the example of Nikkei’s acquisition of Financial Times (FT) which provided the Japanese title with data-driven strategies and a technology-focused business model to emulate. The lessons learnt from Nikkei’s acquisition of FT are instructional – keep the brands separate, but come together for collaboration when it makes sense.   

The bottom line is to approach this acquisition with a mindset for success. We have good people, wide networks and deep capabilities. We should aim for utopia, so that even if we are to miss our utopia by some benchmarks, we will still be significantly better off than where we originally were.  

The writer is editor of The Business Times, which is owned by SPH Media. The acquisition of Tech in Asia by SPH Media closed on Jan 2, 2024.