Vinyl Group has announced the acquisition of Val Morgan Digital.
The digital business of Val Morgan and Co. (Aust.) Pty Ltd, which is a subsidiary of The HOYTS Group, has been acquired by Vinyl Group in a $10.5 million sale of its assets. Additionally, the HOYTS Group CEO, Damian Keogh, will join the Vinyl Group board.
Ad News reports the sale comprises $7 million in cash and $3.5 million in shares. Vinyl Group has also signed a cooperation and services agreement with Val Morgan, covering a cross-sell of “outdoor and cinema advertising”.
Val Morgan Digital is home to partnerships and licences with BuzzFeed, LADbible Group, POPSUGAR, Fandom, and Vox Media in Australia and New Zealand.
Before the acquisition, Vinyl Group’s publishing house, Vinyl Media, already published titles including Rolling Stone Australia and New Zealand, Variety Australia, Tone Deaf, Media Week, The Music Network, Concrete Playground, Refinery29, and more.
In the 2025 calendar year, Val Morgan Digital generated revenue of approximately $10.7 million and was a direct competitor to Vinyl Group’s publisher, Vinyl Media.
Vinyl Group is supported by billionaires – WiseTech Chair Richard White and Soul Patts boss Robert Millner – who B&T reports are helping fund the acquisition. The sale comes as Vinyl Group reported a $3.1 million loss in the first half of the 2026 financial year: an improvement on the $6.9 million loss in the first half of the 2025 financial year.
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At the end of the acquisition, Vinyl Media says it will have expanded its audience reach to approximately 47% of Australian readers across online music and entertainment websites and 51% across news sites. As a result, Vinyl Group claims it will have a comparable digital audience to Nine and News Corp Australia.
In a statement, Vinyl Group CEO & Executive Director Josh Simons said that the company is entering “a new era of Adaptive Media” in Australia.
“The acquisition of Val Morgan Digital materially enhances Vinyl Group’s scale and consolidates our position as one of the largest and fastest growing media conglomerates in Australia,” Simons said.
He continued, “I am excited to oversee our strategy as we usher in a new era of Adaptive Media at scale in Australia. This will enable advertisers meaningful brand connections in an integrated and immersive ecosystem, through a mix of our culture distribution channels.”
Damian Keogh added that Val Morgan Digital has a “large portfolio of premium cultural assets” and outlined his excitement about joining the Vinyl Group board.
“This transaction recognises the strength of consolidation, bringing the assets of Val Morgan Digital into Vinyl Group,” Keogh said. “We have a large portfolio of premium cultural assets together with significant national reach, providing a unique and compelling value proposition for advertisers.
“I am excited to be joining the Board, working with Josh and his passionate team to contribute to Vinyl Group’s next phase of growth.”
