The Argus's main competitor was David Syme's more liberal-minded newspaper, The Age.

The newspaper was originally owned by William Kerr, who was also Melbourne's town clerk from 1851 to 1856 and had been a journalist at the Sydney Gazette before moving to Melbourne in 1839 to work on John Fawkner's newspaper, the Port Phillip Patriot.

[5] In 1883, newspaper editor and owner Richard Twopeny (1857–1919) regarded The Argus as "the best daily paper published out of England".

The company's newspaper operations experienced severe financial losses from 1939 onwards, which would continue through the 1940s and the 1950s due to economic turmoil, increased costs of newsprint, and cut-throat competition for newspaper circulation in Melbourne.

The paper was discontinued and sold to the Herald and Weekly Times group (HWT), which undertook to re-employ Argus staff and continue publication of selected features,[7] and also made an allocation of shares to the UK owners.