Stuff (website)
Stuff is a New Zealand news media website owned by newspaper conglomerate Stuff Ltd (formerly called Fairfax). It is the most popular news website in New Zealand, with a monthly unique audience of more than 2 million. Stuff was founded in 2000, and publishes breaking news, weather, sport, politics, video, entertainment, business and life and style content from Stuff Ltd's newspapers, which include New Zealand's second- and third-highest circulation daily newspapers, "The Dominion Post" and "The Press", and the highest circulation weekly, "Sunday Star-Times", as well as international news wire services. Stuff has won  numerous awards at the Newspaper Publishers' Association awards including 'Best News Website or App' in 2014 and 2019, and 'Website of the Year' in 2013 and 2018. History. The former New Zealand media company Independent Newspapers Ltd (INL), owned by News Corp Australia, launched Stuff on 27 June 2000 at a cybercafe in Auckland, after announcing its intention to go online more than a year earlier. The development of Stuff was supported by Don Higgins, Corporate Development Manager and Mark Wierzbicki, founding Internet Business Manager. Advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi conceived the name "Stuff", and INL had to buy the domain  name from a cyber squatter. In its first month, the site had 120,000 unique visitors. At the time, Wierzbicki described the name as a copywriter's dream, although he conceded that "it's not without risk, especially if we stuff up." The start up was built by a group of engineers from a few tech companies in Wellington led by founding CTO and engineering manager Will Everitt and project manager Bill Alp and used a software platform from News Corp Australia's news.com.au. On 30 June 2003, INL sold its publishing assets including "The Dominion Post", "The Press", and the  Stuff website to Fairfax Media. Fairfax upgraded the website in December 2006, and again on 4 March 2009, adding the ability for visitors to personalise the homepage. The first mobile phone news service from Stuff began in 2003, in a partnership with Vodafone New Zealand. On 21 April 2009, Stuff launched a dedicated mobile site. On 1 February 2018, the parent company of Stuff changed its name from Fairfax New Zealand Limited to Stuff Limited. In December 2018 Fairfax Media merged into Nine Entertainment Co. On 25 May 2020, Nine Entertainment sold Stuff and its holdings including the Stuff website  to Stuff's CEO Sinead Boucher for NZ$1, with the transaction completed on 31 May. This marks the return of the company into New Zealand ownership. Awards and nominations. Stuff.co.nz has won numerous awards at the Newspaper Publishers' Association awards (currently branded as the Voyager Media Awards) including Best News Website or App in 2014 and 2019, and Website of the Year in 2013 and 2018. Content and coverage. On 17 April 2013, to celebrate the passing of same-sex marriage in New Zealand, the colour of the Stuff logo was changed from black to the colours associated with the  pride flag. When a 7.8 earthquake struck Kaikoura 14 November 2016, cutting the town off via road access, Stuff flew free copies of its newspapers to residents. In 2017, Stuff's first podcast "Black Hands" received over 3 million downloads and was the number one podcast in five countries. Stuff also produced "Gone Fishing" with Radio New Zealand, which won podcast of the year at the 2019 NZ Radio Awards. In 2018 Stuff launched Quick! Save the Planet to increase news coverage of climate change in New Zealand and in 2019 Stuff joined the Covering Climate Now international initiative. In  2019 Stuff Circuit's Life + Limb investigation into unexploded ordnance on New Zealand Defence Force firing ranges in Afghanistan prompted Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to order the clearing of the ranges. During the trial of Clayton Weatherston, press.co.nz, a subsidiary section on Stuff, accidentally ran the headline "Guilty of Murder" the day before the jury delivered the verdict. The article was quickly withdrawn, and Fairfax executive editor Paul Thompson said it was a mistake "we take very seriously."