Founder Gerry Reynolds and Sally Wright have sold News Corp the remainder of premium content production company Medium Rare, its partner from the early days of the business.

Medium Rare produces some of Australia’s highest-circulating publications, including free house magazines for Coles, David Jones, Foxtel, Bunnings and Qantas.

The Australian arm of Rupert Murdoch’s global media company increasesingly refers to itself as a premium content business. Now it’s buying the 20 per cent of Medium Rare Content Agency it did not already own.

Both News and the company have been investing in the fast-growing segment, with News taking shares of full-service video production company Visual Domain and digital finance news and marketing group Stockhead, and Medium Rare buying Storyation, another content marketing agency.

In the announcement, News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller spoke of “high aspirations” for the business since they partnered  Reynolds and Wright in 2014, and confidence in the growth of the commercial content category. “The combined skills and capabilities of Medium Rare, Visual Domain, and Storyation, as well as Suddenly and our internal creative agency Roller, to leverage News Corp Australia’s data, audio, commerce along with the company’s digital audience networks and brands provides our clients compelling campaign solutions.”

Reynolds and Wright will now “step aside” from their management roles. Commercial content managing director Mike Connaghan said they had had the “foresight, nous and talent” to identify the new high-growth market segment, working to attract the talent needed. “They are great entrepreneurs whose work has assisted our nation’s most famous and enduring brands to tell their stories and grow their businesses in ways no one had before.”

Connaghan named Nick Smith as managing director, and Fiorella Di Santo as chief commercial officer for Medium Rare, “both well known in the market and to our clients”, who will focus on continuing to grow Medium Rare.

Pictured: Gerry and Wright when they bought Lauren Quaintance and Mimi Cullen’s Storyation in 2019