The NBR was founded in 1970 by then-23 year old publisher Henry Newrick.

New Zealand businessman Barry Colman was the NBR's publisher for 24 years, after buying it from John Fairfax & Sons in 1988.

[1] The publication's website has a paywall model, where businesses and individual subscribers pay to access certain content.

The publication produces an annual The Rich List with the estimated wealth of the richest New Zealanders.

In 2020, Todd Scott announced that NBR had "called off the 2020 NBR Rich List" due to the economic impact of COVID-19, saying it would be "vulgar" to focus on wealthy people.