Nine Entertainment has quit its half stake in Daily Mail Australia two years after helping the online tabloid launch Down Under.
The media company announced on Friday that it has ended its joint venture with the local edition of the Daily Mail, which will now be wholly owned by its British parent company the Daily Mail and General Trust(DMGT).
"Both companies felt that in a changing media landscape the needs of the website were best served by sole ownership going forward," Global MailOnline chief executive and publisher Martin Clarke said in a joint statement on Friday.
"We are now planning for even more investment in our editorial and commercial offerings," he said.
Nine's chief executive Hugh Marks also stated that the company's individual interests were best served by unwinding the agreement.
In 2013, Nine's digital arm Mi9 announced it was expanding its offering in helping launch the Australian version of the Mail Online, one of the world's most-read English language news sites.
However, Nine's own ninemsn news website and Daily Mail Australia have since struggled in competition with each other, ranking in fourth and fifth positions behind online titles from News Corp and Fairfax.
Nielsen's online ratings for December showed ninemsn rise to fourth from fifth, after the DMA held that position for most of 2015.
The tabloid is now growing its sales team and looking for new offices.
Nine's share price was flat following the news.
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