Andrew Beecher adds to Nine’s list of departed execs

Andrew Beecher is just the latest of a slew of top execs to depart since Nine merged with Fairfax.

CarAdvice chief Andrew Beecher is the latest senior executive to depart from the merged Nine and Fairfax operation. Picture: Supplied.

More than 120 staff, including 10 top executives, have left Nine Entertainment since its $4 billion merger with Fairfax Media.

The latest executive to leave the media company is Andrew Beecher, chief executive of its online automotive publisher, CarAdvice, after more than five years.

Mr Beecher, who has overseen CarAdvice’s merger with the Drive Network in recent months, told The Australian that he needs to spend some time with his family “not thinking about cars”.

Mr Beecher’s decision to “step down” immediately comes a month after the surprise departure of the founders of youth-focused online news business Pedestrian TV, Chris Wirasinha and Oscar Martin, who were charged in December to run the enlarged business.

Nine merged Pedestrian TV with Fairfax’s Allure Media, which consisted of Business Insider, Popsugar and Gizmodo websites, just a few days after Nine wrapped up its merger with Fairfax on December 7.

Around half of Nine’s 50 events staff, inherited from the Fairfax deal, are moving to Ironman Group following the sale of five major sporting events for $31 million last month. The remaining seven or so events businesses are being integrated with Nine’s publishing operations, while some smaller sporting and parenting events will be shut down, resulting in some more staff lay-offs.

Nine sacked an undisclosed number of staff across its technology and sales teams in late March, four months after CEO Hugh Marks axed 92 staff as part a new corporate structure.

The lay-offs included Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood, chief financial officer David Housego, general counsel Gail Hambly, group director of strategy and corporate development Dhruv Gupta and human resources’ Michelle Williams, as well as dozens of back office staff. It also included about 12 editorial job losses, as a result of the Pedestrian/Allure merger. Allure boss Jason Scott also left at the time after five years with the group.

Business Insider’s publisher and editor-in-chief Paul Colgan stepped down in January after six years, saying on Twitter that it was “time for a fresh challenge.”

Nine’s workforce is set to shrink further once the $125 million sale of its regional publishing operations, which consists of 160-plus regional mastheads, including The Canberra Times and The Newcastle Herald and printing business, to former Domain CEO Antony Catalano and billionaire investor Alex Waislitz’s Thorney Investment Group is completed at the end of the month, two months after the deal was struck.

Nine is believed to have deferred the sale of its New Zealand operations, inherited from the Fairfax deal along with its regional publishing business, on the back of limited buyer interest.