Latest executive departure still rattling Nine
The departure of Nine CFO Paul Koppelman just 10 months into his tenure has raised eyebrows in a business that continues to struggle to define itself post Fairfax merger under the management of CEO “Hollywood Hugh” Marks.
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The departure of Nine CFO Paul Koppelman just 10 months into his tenure has raised eyebrows in a business that continues to struggle to define itself post Fairfax merger under the management of CEO “Hollywood Hugh” Marks.
Two weeks ago Nine confirmedKoppelman was quitting the business to go into isolation with his family following the death of his mother-in-law.
Koppelman, from Melbourne — the home town of Nine chairman Peter Costello — said in a prepared statement that his decision to quit was a deeply personal one.
“My decision to stand down from my role at Nine is a deeply personal one and a time when I have had to put my family before my career,” he said in a statement released to media on July 10.
“My wife suffered the loss of her much-loved mother recently and she and my children need my total focus and love at this time, as we in Melbourne go back into severe COVID restrictions.
“These restrictions also meant I would be unable to attend results presentations and so the timing was made easier for us all. I have loved my time at Nine and it is a business I will continue to follow and enjoy from the outside, I wish Hugh and the team all the best and much success.”
The timing of Koppelman’s departure, just weeks before
Nine announces its 2020 financial year results, has raised many questions within Nine, although none that have received lip service within the business’s vast publishing division, previously known as the “independent always” Fairfax Media.
The first of these is why Koppelman’s departure comes so long after his mother-in-law’s death.
According to his wife Susan’s Facebook page, her mother died prior to November 10, 2019 — just two months after Koppelman started at Nine following a brilliant career as CFO at software business Aconex and previously at Medibank Private Ltd.
Koppelman was recruited at Nine last September following the shock departure of former Nine CFO Greg Barnes in August, who left the business with some urgency with the market receiving just two weeks’ notice.
Barnes, who started at Coca-Cola Amatil in June, was previously billed as one of Marks’s key appointments and had been with Nine for three years during which time he played an instrumental role in Nine’s takeover of Fairfax.
It is rumoured Barnes, who was also chairman of automotive news and reviews business CarAdvice, fell out with Marks over a personal matter, a dispute over conflicting values, say insiders.
Yesterday Nine failed to address a series of more worrying questions that have surfaced following the heavy trading of Nine shares in March and April following Marks’s announcement to the ASX it could save $130 million if the NRL season was cancelled.
Without a response to these questions — we were merely directed to the statement of two weeks ago — this column is unable to publish them today.
Nine Chairman Peter Costello did not return this column’s calls yesterday.
annette.sharp@news.com.au
Twitter: @InSharprelief