Australia’s oldest news publisher, Nine Entertainment is responding to criticism that ‘its parts were more vauable than the whole’, by hitting the reset button.
The publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald – established in 1831 – and The Age has announced three “consumer-focused divisions” and a new executive team.
Joining is Amanda Laing to head a streaming and broadcast division, which brings together Stan, 9Now, broadcast television and radio. Laing is leaving Foxtel – recently acquired by DAZN – where she was chief commercial and content officer, as well as managing director of Binge.
She joins a “more streamlined” eight-member executive team which will continue to report to Matt Stanton, whose position as acting chief executive is yet to be confirmed.
Tory Maguire continues to lead the publishing division, where the nine.com.au website has been added to former Fairfax Media assets including the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and the Australian Financial Review.
A new ‘marketplaces’ division led by chief digital officer Alex Parsons will proved “more targeted oversight of Domain and Drive” and will look for value creation opportunities from the other divisions. Nine says there are no changes to the current business structure or governance of ASX-listed Domain.
James Boyce has joined Nine from Paramount (Australia and New Zealand) to be director of regulatory, public affairs and communications “to enhance the group’s focus on the regulatory environment”. He had been head of government and regulatory affairs at Paramount.
Nine says the updated operating model will help it deliver its ‘integrated audience platform’ strategy, while strengthening operational and financial performance. It plans to further reduce its cost base by $50 million in FY25.
Whether this will address the threat of dismemberment implicit in the arrival of former Credit Suisse boss John Wylie’s “activist investment firm” Tanarra Capital on the share register remains to be seen. His acquisition – following a fall of close to 40 per cent – has yet to deliver much of a return; shares were at $1.30 today after hitting $1.10 at the beginning of November.
Staff at the Herald and The Age have of course been accustomed to change, ever since “young” Warwick Fairfax tried unsuccessfully to take over the business in 1987 (or before). An advanced plan to minimise print costs – and reduce industrial relations impacts – was abandoned when Nine took over in 2018, paying $2.16 billion for Fairfax – and promptly opted to offload printing facilities; rival News now prints its newspapers.
Hopefully it will also provide distraction from office romances, and the reporting thereof. Most recently, Michael Stephenson, head of sales and the group’s second-highest paid employee, announced he was leaving, a year after disclosing a relationship with a former “mid-level executive”.
The Sydney Herald was founded by three former employees of the Sydney Gazette, starting out with a 750-copy run of the four-page weekly.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose!
Peter Coleman
Pictured top: The Herald office in 1899; in the fold – the nine.com.au website (below)