The
NBR was founded in 1970 by then-23 year old publisher Henry Newrick. Initially published as a fortnightly tabloid-format newspaper, it was briefly published as a daily newspaper from 1987 to 1991. New Zealand businessman Barry Colman was the ''NBR's'' publisher for 24 years, after buying it from John Fairfax & Sons in 1988. He sold it to
Todd Scott in 2012. The publication's website has a paywall model, where businesses and individual subscribers pay to access certain content. As of June 2016, the
NBR had more than 4000 paying subscribers. The
NBR launched an online radio platform in March 2015, NBR Radio, and in early 2018 it launched a
video-on-demand platform provided by
Shift72, NBR View. In 2020, the NBR ceased printing the weekly newspaper and became a completely ad-free online multimedia news website, now updated constantly with breaking news and timely business updates. Today, NBR focuses on publishing of business news stories through multiple channels; from video, podcasts, and articles written by award-winning journalists and content supplied by verified contributors. By December 2025, NBR had adopted a policy of pursuing subscribers who had illegally shared its paywalled content. To reduce the risk of copyright violations, the online magazine also disabled the ability of subscribers to copy, print or save articles to
PDF. The magazine's co-owners Tod Scott and Hamish McNichol also confirmed that
NBR had banned the
Inland Revenue Department from subscribing to the magazine after the government department illegally shared its content among staff members. After compensation negotiations with Inland Revenue broke down,
NBR confirmed in early January 2026 that it would take legal action against the government department through the
District Court of New Zealand. ==The NBR List==