Annette Sharp: James Warburton was Kerry Stokes’ mechanic in the boardroom
If disgraced Seven boss Tim Worner was like a son to Seven chairman Kerry Stokes, replacement James Warburton might be likened to the mechanic who maintains Stokes’ fleet of luxury cars — necessary, but hardly cherished, writes Annette Sharp.
NSW
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If disgraced departed Seven boss Tim Worner was “like a son” to Seven chairman Kerry Stokes, as many claim he was, James Warburton, Worner’s replacement, might be likened to the mechanic who maintains Stokes’ fleet of luxury cars.
Necessary, but hardly cherished.
Warburton, it’s said, is a man with whom billionaire media boss Stokes has cordial if somewhat arm’s-length relations.
“He’s been treated more like an outsider, less like the adopted son Tim was, that’s for sure,” one Seven insider said last week, following the announcement Warburton will step down from Seven next June after almost five years as CEO of the media company.
Worner was, after all, a boy from Stokes’ Perth hometown with whom the billionaire shares local allegiances and interests.
Which is why Stokes dug in and loyally backed Worner following shocking revelations, made here in 2016, that the married father-of-four and then Seven CEO had a scandalous affair with company EA Amber Harrison in 2013.
Another three long years would pass — along with an excruciating, painful and ultimately failed NSW Supreme Court action from Harrison, who was made redundant in 2014 without receiving a $350,000 severance payout she said she was due — before Worner stepped down as CEO following shareholder pressure.
In the announcement of Worner’s departure, Stokes described his friend, who apologised for his part in the affair, as a “tireless leader”.
By contrast, Stokes described his replacement, incoming CEO Warburton, as “available”.
To insiders at Seven the word reverberated through the corridors of power, sounding less like a ringing endorsement than a stinging swipe.
Fans of Warburton’s “focused, quiet, methodical” style say Stokes missed an opportunity at that juncture to praise Warburton as Seven’s returning prodigal son.
He had, after all, once been earmarked for great things at the media company, during an earlier eight-year stint as Seven’s chief sales and digital officer.
That tenure ended explosively in March 2011 when Warburton, frustrated by Seven’s failure to promote him to the top job then occupied by media veteran David Leckie, quit to join rival Ten as its CEO.
Despite Warburton’s insistence Seven CEO Leckie approved his departure, telling him to “get on with it”, Seven launched legal action against Warburton, claiming breach of contract.
Warburton then countered by launching a cross-claim arguing Seven had wrongfully terminated him.
The story captivated the media and business worlds and resulted in a sensational 73-page affidavit from Warburton, in which he aired some of Seven’s dirty laundry — including Stokes’ concerns about famously big drinker Leckie’s health and longevity in the role.
Stokes also, or so the affidavit stated, repeatedly voiced his eagerness to promote Worner, Seven’s then director of programming, as he “had to look good in the new (2011) structure”.
Seven eventually won the case against Warburton, who was finally given the green light to start at Ten in January 2012. That role lasted just 13 months and ended with Warburton being sacked by the Ten board in February 2013.
He then moved to V8 Supercars as CEO and in 2017 to APN Outdoors, which he left after a successful takeover by JCDecaux in 2018.
As luck would have, it left him “available” —— not to mention pretty qualified —— to return to Seven in 2019.
Interestingly Warburton would return to Seven on a base pay of $1.35m plus bonuses – well down on Worner’s $2.49m base.
Stokes looked after Worner who, in addition to raking in $3.15m in his final year – despite presiding over Seven’s then record-low share price of 38c — would collect another $2.5m (plus $448,000) in a controversial termination payout the following year.
Last week, some pondered aloud if Worner, who has kept a low profile since leaving Seven — with a non-executive role with online betting app BlueBet the one exception —— might yet return to Seven’s executive ranks at a future date.
Stranger things have happened in media.
Stokes, however, has announced Seven’s CFO Jeff Howard as Warburton’s replacement.
The Seven chairman was more generous in his appraisal of Warburton following the announcement of his departure.
“I would like to thank James for his energy, enthusiasm and outstanding contribution.
“James came to (Seven West Media) at a difficult time and has been immensely successful in reinvigorating Seven’s ratings, strengthening the balance sheet and setting Seven up for future success.”
Having earned $7,623,157 in the 2021-22 year, Warburton’s earnings slumped along with Seven’s share price in the following year to just $3,402,337. The share price was at 25c on Friday.
Having presided over some high-profile departures during his tenure — including of Stokes’ friend, Sunrise host David Koch, earlier this year — Warburton is understood to be chasing the dollar into private equity.
GODMOTHER OF SYDNEY FASHION DIES
Double Bay style icon Maria Finlay passed away during the week. She was 91.
The designer and fashion store owner was a Sydney institution for 40 years, from the mid-1960s when she opened the doors of her signature store in exclusive Double Bay until the shop’s closure in the early 2000s.
Last week friends and former customers recalled a “soft, elegant” woman who introduced them – and much of Sydney – to the height of couturier fashion as an importer of high-end European design. The groundbreaking fashionista would end up dressing some of the nation’s most stylish women.
Opening her shop in 1966, initially called “Nina Ricci” but later renamed “Maria Finlay” in the hope of attracting less “stitched up” clientele, Finlay would go on to stock labels including Oscar De La Renta, Louis Feraud, Diane Freis, Anna Sui, Moschino, Christian Lacroix and Cerruti 1881.
She flew regularly to Paris, Florence, London, Zurich, Germany and New York to stock her popular store, winning the admiration of Sydney women and the title the “Queen of Double Bay”. She later opened a second store in Chatswood.
A Hungarian migrant who had worked as an actor in her homeland, Finlay fled to Australia with her mother Magda in 1956 following the Uprising.
She arrived in this country on one of Qantas’s first flights of government-sponsored refugees.
She would say: “We arrived on Boxing Day 1956, and as I stepped onto Australian soil I immediately felt secure. I loved the country.”
About seven weeks later an uncle arranged an introduction to a fellow Hungarian immigrant, Peter Finlay, director of Sekers Silk, a fabric house. The pair fell in love.
“He had a wonderful sense of humour and was sensitive. Everything a woman could want,” she would say.
His premature death from a heart attack in 1972 when their two daughters were just 11 and 13 was, she said, “the turning point of my life”.
Finlay’s funeral will be held at The Northern Suburbs Crematorium on December 21, where she will be laid to rest alongside her beloved Peter.
She is survived by daughters Marina and Andrena and two grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, friends are asked to make donations to animal rescue network www.pawsandrecover.com.
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