SYDNEY—Australian small publishers will get a leg up in their fight to secure licensing deals with Google and Facebook after the country’s richest person said his philanthropic organisation would seek a collective bargaining arrangement for them.
The Minderoo Foundation, owned by Andrew Forrest, chairman of iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group, plans to help 18 small publishers by applying to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on their behalf so they can negotiate together without breaching competition laws.
