1980s: Founding amid apartheid
- 1985: Business Day is launched on May 1 1985, as SA’s first national business daily, filling the void left by the closure of the Rand Daily Mail earlier that year. Billed, the “national newspaper for decision-makers”, the new publication is initially modelled on the Financial Times of London, focusing on corporate news, economic policy, financial markets and more, while featuring a vibrant opinion section.
- Late 1980s: Under founding editor Ken Owen, Business Day quickly establishes itself as a liberal voice in the business press. The paper devotes coverage to anti-apartheid protests and emerging calls for BEE, a bold editorial stance in the tense apartheid economy.
1990s: Transition and growth
- 1990-94: As apartheid crumbles, Business Day covers the unbanning of the ANC and the transition to democracy with analytical rigour. The paper’s editorials support the nascent peace process. An August 1990 Business Day editorial, for instance, notes that initial talks between the ANC and National Party had turned an air of “fragility” into one of confidence that continuing negotiations would prevail. In 1994, Business Day is among dozens of local and international media houses reporting on SA’s first democratic elections and the daunting challenge facing Nelson Mandela’s new government, helping frame the economic debates.
- Mid-1990s: Business Day thrives in the post-apartheid boom. Under Jim Jones’ editorship, the paper reaches record sizes and influence, running as many as 80 pages on some days, and demand for business news surges. In 1996-97, an international dimension is added when Pearson PLC, owner of the Financial Times, buys a 50% stake in the Business Day parent company, bringing global resources and expertise. By the decade’s end, Business Day is an agenda setter on economic policy discussions, often echoing support for market reforms such as 1996’s Gear (growth, employment and redistribution) strategy while still scrutinising government.
2000s: New editor, new challenges
- 2001: Veteran journalist Peter Bruce takes the helm as editor, succeeding the long-serving Jones. Over the next decade, Bruce, a former correspondent for the Financial Times, leads the paper to new heights, guiding coverage of the ups and downs of the early 2000s. Under his stewardship, Business Day navigates major stories such as the dot.com bust, the 9/11 attacks and their effect on markets, and SA’s own challenges from the emerging-market currency crash to energy crises.
- Mid-2000s: Business Day continues to break important stories. In 2005, the paper, through its business lens, uniquely covered the dramatic ouster of president Jacob Zuma and the corruption trial that followed. In 2007, when the ANC’s elective conference in Polokwane upends the political order, Business Day’s headline “Business Braces for Change” encapsulates the uncertainty felt in the boardrooms. The 2008 financial crisis tests the SA economy and the newspaper alike — Business Day responds with in-depth analyses of the banking sector’s ability to stand the test and the crash in commodity prices. By the end of the decade, the paper's influence, rooted in factual reporting and intellectual rigour, is evident: its editorials on fiscal prudence echo in policy debate.
2010-13: Going digital with BDLive
- 2012: Amid a rapidly evolving media space, Business Day lays the groundwork for a digital presence. By the end of the year, it makes a leap into the digital age by launching BDLive, its flagship news website.
- “We are going to use our reporting and editing power at Business Day to create the country’s premier live business website and associated applications on the iPhone and iPad‚” Bruce declares at the launch. At first, the content is free to read, reflecting the era’s misplaced optimism about advert-supported online news.
- Late 2012: With BDLive gaining traction, Business Day experiments with online business models. Following the example of its UK sister, Financial Times, the site introduces a metered paywall on a trial basis, foreshadowing a larger strategy shift to come. In print, Business Day content is evolving — the paper now includes more lifestyle and arts coverage, through the Wanted supplement and other publications, reflecting a holistic approach to business readership.
- 2013: Business Day moves to establish a full paywall on its website for premium content beyond a monthly free quota, embracing digital subscription to bolster revenue. At the same time, Business Day enters the television arena with the launch of Business Day TV, a rebranding of the Summit TV channel. With this, Business Day becomes a true multimedia brand, delivering news in print, online and television.
2014: New voices
- May 2014: Songezo Zibi is appointed editor. Zibi’s rise is a landmark moment — a young black intellectual, he had joined the newsroom only a year earlier. Under Zibi, Business Day broadens its commentary section with fresh voices and tackles issues such as labour unrest, government inefficiencies and corporate governance with renewed vigour. Zibi’s appointment — coming as it did 20 years into democracy — symbolises the transformation of SA media. As one of the first black editors of a mainstream financial daily, he brings perspectives that align the paper more closely with the realities of its diverse readership.
2016-17: Integration in the digital era
- February 2016: After two years at the helm, Zibi resigns. Tim Cohen takes over. His mandate is clear: oversee full integration of the company’s business news coverage into a single newsroom. This saves money, for sure, but erodes the distinct identity of Business Day, Financial Mail and Business Times.
- Late 2016: Business Day and its sister titles get a new online home with the launch of BusinessLIVE, an integrated business news portal.
2018-22: A new home with Arena Holdings
- November 2019: Business Day finds itself under new ownership once again as the Tiso Blackstar Group sells to the Lebashe Investment Group, which later sets up Arena Holdings as the new entity to house Business Day, the Sunday Times, Sowetan and other titles.
- “The new company will be called Arena Holdings,” Lebashe chair Tshepo Mahloele declares in 2019. “We are in it for the long haul,” he adds, underling plans to focus on growing the media business and navigating the digital disruption. He pointedly rejects the notion that the media is a dying industry, positioning Arena as a guardian of the storied publications it now owns.
- For Business Day, this transition is largely behind the scenes — no immediate editorial changes occur as Lukanyo Mnyanda, a former Bloomberg staffer, stays on as editor after taking over from Cohen in 2018 — but it represents a fresh injection of capital and optimism.
- 2020: The timing is fortuitous: no sooner has the ink dried on the Arena deal than the world is plunged into a pandemic and crisis, testing the resilience of all news media. Arena’s support proves crucial in weathering the storm that follows. When the Covid-19 pandemic hits SA, Business Day plays a key role in informing the public about its economic fallout. The newspaper’s commentary, the authors of which include Mnyanda, Carol Paton and Hilary Joffe, provides clarity on the uncertain economic outlook
- Late 2022: Arena Holdings names Alexander Parker as new editor-in-chief. His brief is expansive: not only does he assume editorial stewardship of the newspaper, he is also expected to drive the growth of Business Day’s entire portfolio. Building on his predecessors, Parker sets a confident course towards the paper’s 40th anniversary.
2025: Forty years on — a bold new look, same mission
- April 14, 2025: Business Day marks its 40th anniversary with a dramatic redesign and format change for its print edition. In an edition rolled out that morning, readers find a sleeker, compact newspaper in hand — a switch from the old broadsheet format to a Berliner-size layout that is easier to manage on commutes or aircraft.
- “Have you tried reading a broadsheet on the Gautrain? … Exactly. That’s one reason we made your newspaper easier to handle,” acting editor Tiisetso Motsoeneng observes in a column, explaining the change. Yet, the newspaper “preserves the authority, depth and intelligence you expect from us”.
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