FAQs: BusinessLIVE, Business Day & Financial Mail

BusinessLIVE is a national news website in SA, published by Arena Holdings and based in Parktown, Johannesburg. It continually publishes fresh and insightful business news and analysis – both original, online-only content and all articles from Business Day, the SA daily business newspaper; the weekly Financial Mail business magazine; the Sunday Times's weekly Business Times; and the Investors Monthly magazine. 

Some of our subscribers also have access to content from the Sunday Times and TimesLIVE.

Also try the Business Day app from Apple’s App Store, the Google Play store or the Huawei App Gallery.

Great journalism is expensive to produce. Advertising revenue is not enough to allow us to bring you all the trustworthy, quality reporting you need. We give you lots of value through a BusinessLIVE subscription, and your support means we can keep bringing you SA’s best business writing – and even expand what we do.

>> View all our subscription options

Online registration, subscriptions & cookies

How do I register or subscribe? 

Click here to register for free. We will send you an email to verify your email address. Once you’ve registered, you can comment on our articles, sign up for our email newsletters and manage your newsletter preferences via your profile.

To subscribe in SA or from elsewhere in the world, click here to choose a package. Once you have subscribed, you can manage your subscription via your profile – including cancelling it, getting an invoice or updating your card details.

Our payment partner, PayU, works with online merchants in 18 countries. Its servers are PCI-DSS compliant, which keeps your card information safe. PayU also protects your information during transmission by using 128-bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption. Read more about PayU's security measures.

How do I sign in or out?

Click here to sign in with your email address and password, or click here to sign out. You can also use the same details to sign in on TimesLIVE, SowetanLIVE and other websites in the group, though your subscriptions are valid only for the websites included in each package.

I'm having trouble registering, subscribing or signing in. Who do I contact?

Contact us at Tel: 0860 52 52 00 or helpdesk@businesslive.co.za, 7am–4pm SA time (GMT +2) on weekdays or 7am–12pm on Sundays.

If you're registered but you can't sign in, check that you’re using the same email address that you used to register, and that you’ve got the correct password. You can also click here to reset your password via email.

I want to change my name, surname, password, package or email address. What do I do?

Once you’ve registered and signed in, you can edit your name, surname or phone number via your profile, or set a new password. If you're not signed in, you can reset your password via email.

You can also manage your email newsletter preferences via your profile.

Unfortunately you cannot change your email address directly via your profile page. Simply sign out and register again with your new email address. If you have an active subscription, you can then contact us at Tel: 0860 52 52 00 or helpdesk@businesslive.co.za so we can connect your subscription to your new account.

To upgrade or downgrade to another subscription package, please contact us at Tel: 0860 52 52 00 or helpdesk@businesslive.co.za for help.

I already subscribe to the print edition of Business Day or the Financial Mail. Do I get free online access?

Yes, you do. Business Day and Financial Mail print subscribers get access to our BusinessLIVE Premium package as well as access to our e-editions. To gain access, please register on BusinessLIVE with the same email address you supplied when subscribing to the print edition. That allows us to link your subscription correctly.

If you’ve already registered online using a different email address, you can either register again with your other email address, which will automatically pick up your print subscription, or contact us at Tel: 0860 52 52 00 or helpdesk@businesslive.co.za for assistance.

Are you a corporate subscriber receiving your newspaper or magazine at the office? Contact us at Tel: 0860 52 52 00 or helpdesk@businesslive.co.za so we can link your BusinessLIVE account to your subscription.

Can I buy a gift subscription for someone else, and how is a gift subscription redeemed?

You can buy a one, six- or 12-month BusinessLIVE Premium gift subscription. The person who is receiving the gift can activate it via a voucher code that is emailed to you. Click here to see the voucher options.

To activate a gift subscription you have received, click here to enter your voucher code.

Does my Sunday Times subscription give me access to BusinessLIVE?

A Sunday Times subscription includes access to the Business Times section on the Sunday Times website. BusinessLIVE Premium and Premium Plus subscribers get the Business Times via BusinessLIVE. However, Sunday Times subscribers don’t have automatic access to BusinessLIVE Premium, and BusinessLIVE Premium subscribers don’t have access to the full Sunday Times.

With how many devices can I access BusinessLIVE with one subscription?

You’re allowed three device connections for each subscription you hold.

What are cookies and why do I need them to use BusinessLIVE?

Cookies are tiny, harmless files used by websites to keep track of your personal preferences and settings – for example, remembering that you have already previously signed in and not asking you to do so again. If you do not have cookies enabled on your browser, some of the services and settings on BusinessLIVE might fail.

Our call centre might sometimes ask you to clear your cookies. Read how to delete cookies in Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari.

Print subscriptions

Can you deliver Business Day or the Financial Mail to me?

We offer home delivery of our print editions in all major metropolitan areas. If you’re on a delivery route, your newspaper or magazine should be delivered to your door by 7.30am, Monday to Friday. We deliver only to addresses that we can access straight away (freestanding homes or complexes with security). We cannot use access codes or entry keys.

The minimum print subscription term is six months. Please allow up to two days for delivery of your first copy. The Financial Mail is delivered on Thursdays, except in KwaZulu-Natal where we deliver on Fridays.

Contact us at Tel: 0860 52 52 00 or helpdesk@businesslive.co.za:

• • to ask about delivery routes in your area;
  • if your newspaper or magazine arrived late, damaged or not at all;
  • to change your delivery address (we need one week’s notice);
  • to buy a gift subscription;
  • to cancel your subscription (subject to a reasonable cancellation fee) or ask about the balance;
  • to swap from the print edition to the e-edition, or to add the e-edition to your subscription; or
  • to suspend your subscription for a certain period (we need one week's notice) or have your newspaper or magazine redirected to a temporary address.

Why do you need my e-mail address?

Your email address is our unique identifier for your subscription. You can then also activate your digital subscriber access to BusinessLIVE by registering with the same email address.

When does my subscription expire?

If you pay by EFT, credit card or debit card, you will find your subscription end date on the letter confirming your subscription as well as on your renewal notifications, which we will send to you before the end of your subscription.

If you do not wish to receive these notifications, why not consider renewing by direct debit? Your payment will be taken monthly and your subscription will simply continue until you tell us to stop. To activate a direct monthly debit payment plan, contact us at Tel: 0860 52 52 00 or helpdesk@businesslive.co.za.

Email newsletters, comments, mobile apps & e-editions

How do I sign up for your email newsletters or unsubscribe from a newsletter?

When you register at no cost, you’ll be asked whether you’d like to receive any of our email newsletters. Once you’ve registered and signed in, you can manage your newsletter preferences via your profile.

My email newsletter has not arrived in my inbox. What do I do?

Check your junk/spam mail or rejected mail folder in case your mail server rejected the newsletter. If that is what happened, try to adjust your email settings. If you haven't received it at all, email us at feedback@businesslive.co.za.

How do reader comments on your articles work?

Registered readers can use the comment facility below our articles. These comments are managed via a reliable service called Disqus that is used on many other websites too. Your BusinessLIVE Disqus profile is created when you register on our website. It does not pick up details from any previous Disqus profiles you might have.

Your name and surname will be displayed with all your comments. Read our comment moderation policy for guidance before you start.

Is there a BusinessLIVE app?

There isn’t a BusinessLIVE app but you can download the Business Day app for mobile phones and tablets from Apple’s App Store, the Google Play store or the Huawei App Gallery. The app offers all Business Day content from the print edition of the newspaper and from the website, including both free and subscriber-only articles.

How do I read the Business Day or Financial Mail e-editions?

The Financial Mail and Business Day e-editions are exact digital replicas of the print edition reserved for subscribers on specific packages and presented via a service called PressReader. They can be read via our website or by using one of our e-edition apps: 

>> How to read the Financial Mail e-edition

>> How to read the Business Day e-edition

Editorial matters, errors & advertising

How do I contact BusinessLIVE, Business Day or Financial Mail?

See the overall BusinessLIVE contacts page, or check out the Business Day contacts page or the Financial Mail contacts page for more specific guidance. 

Otherwise, you can also email feedback@businesslive.co.za with your query. 

Who are the editors of BusinessLIVE, Business Day, and Financial Mail?

Digital editors Pearl Sebolao (BusinessLIVE & Business Day) and Nelisiwe Tshabalala (Financial Mail) work closely with Business Day editor Alexander Parker and Financial Mail editor Rob Rose and our full team of journalists to deliver your regular news fix.

Does the website have RSS feeds?

We have a range of RSS feeds for our websites and individual sections. Get the full list here.

How do I submit an opinion piece?

We do not publish opinion pieces already sent to other publications. Submitting an uncommissioned opinion piece is no guarantee that it will be published and we reserve the right to edit all opinion pieces. See the Business Day contacts page or the Financial Mail contacts page for specific guidance.

How do I submit a press release or story suggestion?

See the Business Day contacts page or the Financial Mail contacts page for specific guidance on where to email your press release or story idea. It will then be evaluated by our news desk. (We don’t publish press releases but they are considered for use in news reports or features.)

How do I report an error on BusinessLIVE?

Let us know if you spot any errors, big or small, so that we can correct them. Email feedback@businesslive.co.za with a link to the article and explain the problem clearly and concisely.

How do I advertise on BusinessLIVE or in Business Day or the Financial Mail?

Check the details in our advertising rate card.

Get in touch with our team:

• Sumeshni Khan on +27 79 695 0340 or khansu@arena.africa; &
• Nadeem Joshua on +27 11 340 9336 or joshuan@arena.africa.

Digital advertising sales:

• digitalsalesgroup@arena.africa or call our switchboard on +27 11 280-3000.