Annette Sharp: Who will replace Mike Sneesby as Nine CEO?

Lobbying for the role of Nine CEO started long before incumbent Mike Sneesby handed in his notice. Annette Sharp outlines the top contenders for the job.

Weeks before the inevitable announcement came that Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby was departing the media company, the lobbying for Sneesby’s job had begun.

Of the top candidates now in line to replace the CEO, one is receiving the most lip service — and not because she’s a woman.

Corporate lawyer Amanda Laing was Nine’s managing director between 2015 and 2017. She came to the role after spending a decade at Nine as the company’s lawyer and commercial director under former CEOs David Gyngell and Hugh Marks.

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Having spent a further three years as a non-executive director of Stan from 2014 to 2017 and seven as general counsel of Nine’s former magazine division, ACP, from 1999 to 2006, she knows the business.

She is said to want the job and is available after pulling the pin at Foxtel in April of this year.

Laing had been Foxtel’s chief commercial and content officer, as well as managing director of streaming service Binge, a role she leaves this month.

Nine CEO Mike Sneesby has announced he will be leaving Nine. Picture: Martin Ollman

Despite these impressive qualifications, not to mention being well-liked, industry sources believe there may be one serious impediment to Laing winning the top spot. Timing.

After decades as one of the industry’s most exclusive executive boys’ clubs, Nine is currently in the midst of a culture revolution which has seen a surge in the appointment of women to top jobs.

Among these are the Nine board’s new chair, Catherine West, who replaced Peter Costello, and Nine’s director of news and current affairs, Fiona Dear, who replaced Darren Wick.

Wick, though much maligned in recent months, kickstarted a period of transformation in Nine’s TV news division with the appointments of women to the helms of 60 minutes, A Current Affair, and Sydney daytime news.

While Laing is well liked at Nine, some fear the recent push to correct the sexist imbalance at the top of the company might work against her in the current climate.

This despite some powerful female advertisers being firmly in Laing’s corner in the fight.

Former corporate lawyer Amanda Laing has had a wealth of experience in managerial roles of media companies. Picture: Supplied

Another who joins the field as a possible replacement for Sneesby is Andrew Lancaster, the steely CEO of Bruce Gordon’s WIN Corporation and Birketu Pty Ltd, Nine Entertainment Co’s largest individual shareholder.

Industry veterans claim Gordon, who owns over 25 per cent of Nine and therefore holds considerable sway over the board, would like to see Lancaster replace Sneesby.

We hear Gordon’s not the only one.

Lancaster, who has an economics background, is also currently a director of Free TV Australia along with CEO of Seven Jeff Howard, Network 10 president Beverly McGarvey and the departing Sneesby, and is well liked by sports administrators.

As chairman of the St George Illawarra Dragons, he also understands the importance of Nine’s affiliation with the NRL. Not that Laing should be underestimated in this area.

WIN TV chief executive Andrew Lancaster. Picture: Hollie Adams

During her previous Nine tenure she sat shoulder to shoulder with former Nine CEO David Gyngell at the negotiating table haggling over the rugby league and cricket broadcast rights. During this time she proved herself a tough negotiator.

Laing also, for two years, served as a commissioner on the Australian Rugby League Commission before standing down in 2020 citing a potential conflict of interest due to her role at Foxtel.

From within Nine, the drums are beating for the man charged with keeping the seat warm following Sneesby’s departure, Nine CFO and chief strategy officer Matt Stanton.

UK-educated Stanton has a strong finance and commercial background and was, for a year from January 2015, chief transformation officer at Woolworths.

He also has been at Sneesby’s elbow for the past two years, soaking up the issues, both commercial and cultural, that now plague Nine. It’s too early to say if this will be in his favour or not.

Nine Chief Finance and Strategy Officer Matt Stanton. Picture: Supplied

Notably, Stanton was the CEO of Nine’s magazine division, ACP, at the time of its sale to Bauer media in 2012. The sale netted $525 million for Nine.

Stanton, who kept his CEO role following the acquisition and held it for three more years, memorably spruiked the deal: “Being part of the Bower Media Group provides ACP with a positive and clear future under an owner who is focused on magazines and who will support investment and growth in our business. This outcome provides a commitment for the long term, for both our brands and our people,” he said at the time.

Sadly that proved not to be the case, with Bauer offloading the business in 2020 to private equity business Mercury Capital for a song, less than $50 million, following the closure of a raft of once-treasured titles and the axe falling brutally on staff.

Happily Stanton was out the door by then and well remunerated for his efforts.

Much has been written about Sneesby’s departure in recent days.

Insiders say his appointment never sat well with Nine veterans, who believed Sneesby lacked sufficient industry experience to run the cumbersome media company which is yet to unify its disparate newspaper and television divisions.

The report card on Sneesby, formerly boss of Stan, may say he was ill-equipped to manage creatives and stars, preferring to befriend them and hang out with them and not trim their salaries.

In addition, he could be indecisive and slow to act on important matters, including the recent company cultural review, and lacked sufficient drive and vision to propel the business.

That’s a C from us.

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