Nine Entertainment axes sales, technology staff in wake of Fairfax Media merger

Nine Entertainment makes redundancies across its technology and sales teams, four months after its $4 billion merger with Fairfax.

A Nine spokeswoman wasn’t able to say how many staff would be let go, noting “consultation is on going.” Picture: AFPA

Nine Entertainment has sacked an undisclosed number of staff across its technology and sales teams, four months after completing its $4 billion merger with Fairfax Media and the axing of 92 people.

In a statement to announce the appointment of Tim Rose to the newly created role of director of sales at Nine+, the company said “there had been a limited number of redundancies within the business in both technology and sales as it aligns its operations to high-growth products and markets post-merger.”

A Nine spokeswoman wasn’t able to say how many staff would be let go, noting “consultation is ongoing.” No redundancies were made across editorial, she said.

In December, Nine boss Hugh Marks announced the lay-off of 92 staff as part of a new corporate structure, which led to the departure of Fairfax boss Greg Hywood, chief financial officer David Housego and dozens of back office staff. It also included about 12 editorial jobs as Nine’s digital publishing division Pedestrian. TV merged with Allure Media.

The enlarged company has been organised into four operating businesses: Australian Community Media, Printing and Stuff, Publishing, Stan and Television.

It consists of a free-to-air TV network, home to reality shows such as Married At First Sight and Love Island, and digital business 9Now, plus Australian and New Zealand mastheads including The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. It also owns a near 60 per cent stake in online property listing firm Domain and a 54.5 per cent shareholding in radio network Macquarie Media.

Nine said Mr Rose be will “charged with leading a new team focused on providing marketing solutions” to Australia’s 2.1 million small-to-medium business owners using the group’s television, digital and publishing assets.

At the group’s Upfronts annual advertising event, Nine unveiled plans to launch 9Voyager, a self-serve platform for TV and broadcast video-on-demand.

“The Nine+ team will represent all of Nine’s assets to Australian SMEs and 9Voyager’s self-serve technology will give them a brand-safe alternative to Facebook and Google,” said Mr Rose, who worked at outdoor advertising group APN Outdoor for a decade.