Vinyl Group Ltd (ASX: VNL) has signed an agreement to acquire Time Out Australia for nominal consideration, adding one of the world’s most recognised urban culture brands to its growing media portfolio – just one day after announcing the acquisition of Pedestrian Group from Nine Digital Pty Ltd.
The Melbourne-based company is buying it for what is described as “nominal consideration” – essentially little to no money upfront – from Time Out Group plc, the British company that owns the global Time Out brand.
The deal is expected to be finalised on 24 June 2026, pending a standard 14-day cooling-off period.
How the deal works
Vinyl Group is not buying the Time Out brand outright.
Instead, it is entering into a long-term Franchise Agreement with the UK parent company, similar to how a local business might pay to operate under a well-known brand name.
Under this arrangement, the British parent will receive a share of ongoing revenue and annual minimum payments from Vinyl in exchange for the right to use the Time Out name and brand in Australia.
The agreement runs for an initial five years and automatically renews each year after that unless either party chooses to end it.
One day after the Pedestrian deal
The announcement comes one day after Vinyl agreed on 9 June 2026 to acquire Pedestrian Group from Nine Digital Pty Ltd – the digital arm of media company Nine Entertainment – also for minimal consideration, with no cash, debt, or shares changing hands.
Pedestrian Group owns PEDESTRIAN.TV, a popular news and culture website aimed at Gen Z and Millennial readers, along with Pedestrian Jobs, Openair Cinemas, and Pedestrian Studio.
The business attracts more than 9.4 million people each month across its websites and social media channels, and generates revenue through online advertising, video content, and jobs listings, among other streams.
That deal is expected to close on 15 June 2026, with Pedestrian Group forecast to add between $0.6 million and $0.8 million to Vinyl’s annual earnings in FY27.
What this means for Vinyl’s reach
Together, the two acquisitions significantly increase the number of Australians who visit Vinyl Group-owned websites each month.
Before the Pedestrian deal, Vinyl’s websites reached around 51% of Australians online. Adding Pedestrian pushed that to 53%. Adding Time Out takes it further still, to approximately 55% of Australians online, according to independent audience measurement firm Ipsos iris.
In practical terms, that puts Vinyl Group in the same league as Australia’s largest media companies in terms of online audience size.
Time Out Australia sits alongside an existing stable of Vinyl-owned and licensed titles, including Concrete Playground, Mediaweek, Rolling Stone AU/NZ, BuzzFeed, and LADbible titles such as LADbible and SPORTbible.
Raising money to fund the integration
To help cover the costs of bringing these new businesses into its operations – such as technology upgrades, staff, and systems – Vinyl has raised $2.4 million by selling new shares to investors.
This type of fundraising is known as a placement, where a company issues new shares at a set price to a select group of investors rather than to the general public.
The shares were sold at $0.054 each, representing a 10% discount to Vinyl’s share price on 5 June 2026. A total of 44,444,445 new shares were issued.
The raise was led by one of Vinyl’s existing top 10 shareholders, with further support from institutional investors. New shares are expected to begin trading on 12 June 2026. Red Leaf Securities managed the placement and will receive a fee of 6% on funds raised.
What the executives said
Vinyl Group CEO and Executive Director Josh Simons described the Time Out acquisition as a significant strategic move.
“Time Out strengthens our position at the intersection of content and real-world experiences, and expands our reach into high-value audiences across Australia. It is another important step in building a scaled, premium publishing platform,” Simons said.
Rob Biagioni, CEO of Time Out Media, said Vinyl was the right partner to grow the brand locally.
“Vinyl has a strong track record of growing premium media brands and connecting audiences with real-world experiences, making them the ideal partner for Time Out in Australia. We are excited to work together to continue growing the Time Out brand and helping Australians discover the very best of their cities,” Biagioni said.