Joe Aston’s Rampart secures $2.3m capital from five investors
The journalist has sold part of his business to new investors, including Ashok Jacob and David Gyngell.
Australian journalist Joe Aston has sold part of his business publication, Rampart, to five investors, including Ashok Jacob and David Gyngell.
Aston published a statement on his website about the deal on Wednesday night.
"On Tuesday, Rampart News Holdings completed a $2.3 million transaction with a group of five financial investors.
“This transaction reduced my stake in the company to 92 percent.”
Rampart listed its new investors as Jacob, Gyngell, Doug Tynan, Michael and Elizabeth Morgan, and Sam Brougham.
Aston confirmed that the individuals on the list have invested “in a personal capacity” rather than through their work.
The statement continued:
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"Rampart didn’t need external capital to continue on its already steep trajectory as one of Australia’s fastest-growing media brands.
"The company was profitable in financial 2025, profitable again in financial 2026, even after the rapid growth in our headcount in recent months, and would’ve been profitable in 2027.”
Aston added that all of Rampart's shareholders have “made an iron-clad commitment to Rampart's editorial independence.”
He also committed to “hold the organisation to a very high standard of pecuniary interest and conflict of of interest disclosure.”
Joe Aston and Rampart
Aston is the former editor of The Australian Financial Review’s Rear Window column, and a current Financial Review columnist.
He founded Rampart 18 months ago. The publication has a commercial partnership with the Financial Review, which takes a share of revenue in return for legal services.
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