Lowes menswear heir swaps $23.5M Sydney Mansion for historic French Riviera palace to give children ‘international upbringing’
Mega-rich Aussie clothing retail heir is headed to Europe with his family after offloading his Sydney mansion for a truly eye-watering sum.
Having offloaded a family home in Point Piper and renovated a home in Double Bay for an eye-watering $23.5 million, Sydney retailer, philanthropist and Lowes Menswear heir Joshua Penn is newly focused, he says, on relocating to the French Riviera next year with husband Ben Palmer.
The couple, who are parents to two youngsters, are keen to give their children an “international upbringing” at their Villa Marisol in Cap ‘d’ail.
The 1908 built Belle Epoque mansion – “a palace,” says Penn – was once the site of Roaring Twenties parties attended by the likes of “banana skirt” dancer Josephine Baker.
The uber rich playground of Monaco is only a short drive away which appeals to Penn who plans to expose son Brooklyn, 7, and daughter Blake, 4, who were born in the US to a surrogate, to the European lifestyle.
The grandson of the founder of the Lowe’s Menswear business, Penn is a successful businessman in his own right.
He co-owns luxury Double Bay fashion outlet Belinda International as well as the online interior design store Palmer & Penn with his husband of 11 years.
Last week Penn and his mother Linda presided over the Sydney Children’s Hospital’s Gold Dinner fundraiser which raised $83 million for charity.
‘Big fine’: Kyle’s sickies to cost him $1m
What are the chances the Kyle and Jackie O breakfast show will plummet to ninth-most-listened-to breakfast radio show in Melbourne in upcoming 2025 radio ratings surveys?
The $200 million duo recorded a disastrous 5.1 share in the latest survey, the results of which were released this week.
That result, a drop of 0.7 on the previous survey when parent company ARN threw a multimillion-dollar cash giveaway at the program to bolster ratings, saw the show drop from seventh most popular radio show to eighth in the southern capital.
With savings hard to come by, the radio company (whose share price was trading at 49c on Thursday, well down on the YTD high of 76c in December) must be happy it went ahead with the tongue in cheek billboards “Thanks for making us the (crossed out #1) 8th most popular show” at the start of the year.
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In Sydney the Kyle and Jackie O program remains the most listened to FM radio program on the dial, however down south radio pundits are predicting a further decline in future months as ARN turns off the marketing tap off to save some coin.
With that, say industry insiders, there’s a chance sports station SEN, with its AFL breakfast line-up, will squeeze the duo out for eighth place.
Only one point currently separates the two stations.
On the upside for ARN, Sandilands and “O” have been calling in sick a fair bit of late.
Sandilands has previously admitted he is only entitled to a finite number of sickies a year.
In 2020 he said it was 11.
For every day he calls in sick beyond that figure his pay is docked.
Given in 2019 he claimed he was fined $28,000 per shift, which cost him $250,000 for the year, with inflation factored in – along with his wildly increased salary – we think it within the realms of possibility he might be fined $50,000 a shift today.
Which means that if he calls in sick on 20 occasions (above and beyond his approved schedule of sick days), this could save ARN $1 million this year.
“I’m ill, [but] I have to be here for the ridiculously big fine the company give me if I dare be sick,” he told listeners back in 2023. “What other job fines someone for not showing up to work sick?”
Sandilands was off air on Friday, his second day away this week.
Shareholders could be forgiven for wanting to hand the man a bucket.
Reality bites
The producers of the upcoming Logies Awards won’t have to manufacture the drama if The Real Housewives of Sydney find their way to the ceremony in August.
News of the cast’s nomination arrived like a bunker buster bomb in the inboxes of Housewives Krissy Marsh, Nicole Gazal-O’Neil, Terry Biviano, Sally Obermeder, Kate Adams, Caroline Gaultier, Victoria Montano and Martine Chippendale this week.
After months of radio silence from the program’s producers, the Housewives received a letter.
While some Housewives had been waiting for news of unresolved disputes and others of hoped-for work, the author of the letter made no reference to the myriad issues that tested production staff and spurred threatened legal allegations last year.
He also skipped over the fact some of the Housewives were peeved they hadn’t been told they might be up for a Logie for the Matchbox program which was broadcast on Foxtel/BINGE.
Rather, the executive put the vast array of simmering conflicts to one side to inform the women he was “unbelievably happy and proud” they’d received a Logie nomination for Best Structured Reality Show.
“It’s such an honour for everyone involved in the success of the series to be recognised by our industry and, of course, the public,” he trilled joyfully.
“You all have my sincere thanks for every moment you have contributed, every heartache, every laugh, and every insight into your fabulous lives. What a rollercoaster.”
Production on the third season of the program was mired in behind-the-scenes dramas which came to a head in episode nine amid allegations of drunken fights, verbal taunts, tantrums and walkouts, one legal threat and the claim, brought by one participant, that Matchbox had failed to create a safe work environment during the shoot.
Addressing this in broad terms, Matchbox stated it is “committed to a respectful work environment” when the question was put at the end of 2024.
There was so much friction between Housewives by the time the show wrapped it reportedly prompted producers to abandon plans for a season launch party in February.
Despite the lingering resentment between Housewives, when there’s a glamour party in the offing, you can bet there will be demand for tickets.
Concerning this, the exec – sounding a tad harangued – begged for patience.
“Please bear with everyone,” he pleaded. “I don’t have any concrete answers … I don’t have any influence …”
The program is up against Gogglebox, Married At First Sight, Muster Dogs and Married At First Sight in the category which has to make it a long shot.
Sinclair’s Bali wedding
The wedding of one-time A Current Affair reporter Hannah Sinclair has to have created a rostering nightmare for Nine’s news bosses.
Nine’s London-based Europe correspondent is set to tie the knot to her partner Mitchel Burke in Bali this weekend.
Half of Nine’s of news team appears to have decamped to Canggu outside Kuta for the nuptials.
The bride kicked off her weekend celebrations with a pretty in pink hen’s party on Thursday.
Among Nine staff in attendance included Tiffany Genders, Lizzie Pearl, Gabrielle Boyle, Kelly Fedor, Ashley Carter and Today weatherman Tim Davies.
Nine’s rostering crisis started early in the week when another batch of staff headed to Malta for Delta Goodrem’s wedding to Matthew Copley.
Most prominent among them at that wedding was Richard Wilkins along with son Christian, part-time Niner Renee Bargh and ex Nine reporter Airlie Walsh.
Ten unveils Ron Burgundy news promo
The promo for Network Ten’s soon to be unveiled 10 News+ program dropped during the week and what a blast from the past it was.
The program’s new hosts Denham Hitchcock and Amelia Brace are front and centre of the promo which pledges “the truth comes first” in a spot which teases politics, international conflicts and consumer issues as front and centre of the new show.
The duo’s serious walking stand-up with dramatic musical backing is already drawing comparisons to other new programs – though not the serious news-based shows Ten might hope.
It’s Will Ferrell in News Anchor and Working Dog’s nineties comedy series Frontline that readily come to mind.
Ten executives weren’t too thrilled with this writer’s thoughts, published here last week, on the program’s chances of success in the competitive timeslot which The Project made its own for 16 years.
We wonder if they did take on-board however our point that with some outstanding mature female journos already on Ten’s books – Chris Bath, Jennifer Keyte and Sharyn Ghidella to name a few – they might have looked in-house for talent rather than hire a large roster of 30-something reporters.
Apparently the idea of incorporating a mature woman’s voice did hold some appeal to producers after all – so they’ve recruited former 60 Minutes reporter Jennifer Byrne to voice-over the promo tail.
Where’s Hamish?
Where is ABC Sydney mornings presenter Hamish Macdonald?
Macdonald posted a 5.5 share in survey three radio ratings released this week.
That result was down on his previous two surveys and two whole percentage points lower than his dumped predecessor Sarah Macdonald posted in her last complete survey in 2024 (survey seven, a 7.5 share).
In audience share terms, that equates to roughly one third of Sarah Macdonald’s audience going missing on her replacement’s watch.
And why wouldn’t an audience switch off when Macdonald himself isn’t in the chair.
After negotiating a four-day working week before signing on to the job in January, Macdonald surprised fans by taking two weeks off in March.
Now it’s June and he’s off air again, for a month or more, replaced by, Kath Robinson, the wife of Seven reporter Chris Reason.
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On May 29 the presenter announced: “From Monday I’ll be on leave for a few weeks … After that I’ll be on assignment for a few weeks.”
That’s “a few weeks” plus “a few weeks” which Macdonald has said “ … was all planned long before I was asked to join you in the Mornings.”
It’s not hard to see why some have questioned whether his heart’s in the job.
Aus band suffers major loss in Sydney fire
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Reason behind accounting ‘mistakes’
Guy Sebastian’s former manager has revealed why he made accounting “mistakes” as he stands trial for allegedly embezzling $640,000 from the pop star.
Fans erupt over detail in star’s Oz shows
She is one of the biggest pop culture phenomena of the decade but Diet Pepsi star Addison Rae has fans in a tizz over the small venues for her big Aussie tour.