Nine boss Mike Sneesby ‘a dead man walking’
Nine chair Peter Costello has refused to back his chief executive as the board meets for the first time since sexual harassment allegations against Darren Wick were revealed.
Nine Entertainment chair Peter Costello has refused to publicly back embattled chief executive Mike Sneesby, as the media group’s seven-person board prepares to meet for the first time since sexual harassment allegations against former news boss Darren Wick were revealed.
It’s understood that the majority of the board is deeply unhappy about the way Mr Sneesby and Mr Costello have handled the Wick matter, particularly the decision taken by the CEO to personally approve a near $1m payout to the former news boss, despite the fact a serious harassment allegation was hanging over his head.
Mr Costello and Mr Sneesby will both front for the board meeting, expected to be held in Sydney on Thursday, but the former treasurer’s refusal to come out in support of Mr Sneesby, whom he hand-picked to lead the media giant in 2021, gives further weight to speculation that the CEO is fighting to save his job.
On Wednesday, Nine’s publishing division ran stories that were critical of Mr Sneesby’s conduct over the Wick issue, and also sought to implicate the CEO (who used to head up Stan) in relation to the departure of one of his former associates, Adrian Foo, from the streaming service in May last year.
The story said Mr Foo left Nine amid allegations of inappropriate conduct.
“Mr Foo is known to be close to Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby, who returned early from a holiday to resolve a growing scandal around the circumstances of Mr Wick’s departure,” read the story in The Australian Financial Review, which was first published on Tuesday afternoon. “Despite the circumstances surrounding his departure, Mr Foo has been seen at many Nine corporate events since leaving Stan. He is also known to go fishing and on holidays with Mr Sneesby, and first met him when the Nine chief executive ran Stan.”
Nine’s metro mastheads went further. Both The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald ran front-page stories on Wednesday suggesting Mr Sneesby’s association with Mr Foo had “fuelled speculation within the company’s senior ranks about the chief executive’s future at the helm of Nine, as pressure mounts over handling of misbehaviour by senior employees.”
“Sneesby’s promise on Monday of an investigation into the network’s newsroom culture also failed to mollify the company’s journalists. They remain angry that Wick’s behaviour went unchecked for years and await assurances about the rigour and transparency of the review.”
The decision to run the story, which strongly suggested Mr Sneesby was facing the sack, was taken by the editors of the SMH and The Age, Bevan Shields and Patrick Elligett, according to Nine sources. “That story effectively said Mike is a dead man walking,” one insider said. “No newspaper is going to carve up their own boss like that unless they know he’s going out the door soon.”
Both Mr Sneesby and Mr Costello declined to comment.
The Australian understands that while all members of the Nine board were aware of at least one serious allegation of sexual harassment against Wick at the time of his departure on March 15, they were not consulted before Mr Sneesby approved the near $1m Wick payout. Despite protestations by some of the board about the payout, it’s believed the decision to approve it fell within Mr Sneesby’s delegated authority.
On Monday, Mr Sneesby announced Nine would launch an independent review into the “behaviours and concentration of power that has damaged the trust and fairness” at the network.
The terms of reference are to be announced.
On Wednesday, a Nine spokesperson said: “These unsourced accusations are damaging to our people and business. We want to support our people during this time and are putting an independent process in place to … manage their experiences.”
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