The two companies’ top executives would remain in positions of authority in the new merged company: Jordan Bitove, publisher of the Toronto Star and owner of Nordstar, would be chairman and Andrew MacLeod, chief executive officer of Postmedia, would be CEO.
The Toronto Star would also maintain its editorial independence from the merged entity, with Nordstar retaining a 65 per cent interest in a new entity, Toronto Star Inc., which would manage editorial operations of the Star. Bitove remains publisher of the Toronto daily. While fierce rivals in news gathering and editorial, corporately, the two media giants have done business together in the past.
In 2017 Postmedia, Torstar and a Torstar subsidiary, Metroland Media Group, struck a deal to swap 41 community and small daily newspapers. The subsequent closure of many of the titles drew public complaints and the attention of the Competition Bureau. After an investigation, the bureau declined to take further action.Article content