The Malaysian Insider ceases operations with immediate effect

Kuala Lumpur

CITING monthly losses of about RM2 million (S$668,260) and the lack of commercial support, the owner of The Malaysian Insider (TMI) has decided to halt operations with immediate effect.

"TEMG (The Edge Media Group) has incurred losses of around RM10 million in the 20 months since we acquired TMI in June 2014 and we are no longer in a position to keep it going," Edge Insider Sdn Bhd director and The Edge Media Group publisher and group chief executive Ho Kay Tat said in a statement on Monday.

He indicated that run-ins with the authorities had also muddled negotiations to sell the news portal. A proposed management buyout was similarly unsuccessful.

The announcement dismayed its many readers who said they would miss the popular platform or space TMI had provided for discussion of issues neglected or omitted by the mainstream media. A fair number stressed that the free access portal had become their "main source of information" - a point Putrajaya knows only too well given declining readership and viewership of government-controlled …