Nine Entertainment CEO contenders line up as Hugh Marks exits
Nine has time and options in choosing a replacement for departing CEO Hugh Marks, but there are two clear frontrunners.
Two senior Nine Entertainment executives, digital and publishing boss Chris Janz and Stan boss Mike Sneesby, have emerged as the frontrunners to replace the network’s departing chief executive Hugh Marks.
Mr Janz, 40, and Mr Sneesby, 46, are seen by senior media executives as the most likely to be tapped by the Nine board to succeed Mr Marks, who stunned the media industry on Saturday afternoon with his surprise resignation.
Both men are running key growth businesses for Nine, with Mr Janz leading its digital, print and broadcast video-on-demand businesses, plus technology and data, and Mr Sneesby overseeing Nine’s streaming business Stan.
Other Nine executives seen as an outside chance include chief sales officer Michael Stephenson and radio boss Tom Malone.
A senior media executive, who didn’t want to be named, said it was widely expected within industry circles that Nine’s board, led by chairman Peter Costello, would opt for either Mr Janz or Mr Sneesby.
Another senior industry executive said Mr Sneesby “seems to be the guy on the rise”, and had previously been touted as Mr Marks’ likely successor. However, he doesn’t have experience in TV broadcasting.
The executive said it has been a “very settled leadership structure” under Mr Marks’ five-year tenure, which “is likely to change” following his exit.
“After a new CEO is appointed, company executives who missed out on the top job will leave as they don’t want to wait a couple more years for another chance at getting the highly coveted job,” he said.
Other media bosses that could be in the frame for the Nine CEO role include Fetch TV CEO Scott Lorson, former Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood, Southern Cross Media CEO Grant Blackley, plus Network Ten’s former CEO Paul Anderson, who quit that role in March.
There is also industry talk that Nine could appoint its deputy chair and former Fairfax chair Nick Falloon as interim CEO as he wants to be promoted to chair when Mr Costello retires.
A Nine spokeswoman said the speculation was incorrect. “No, Hugh is around and will do the handover when the person has been appointed,” she said.
Mr Janz has been at Nine for more than four years, the last 10 months as chief digital and publisher officer, which includes over seeing the group’s broadcast video-on-demand platform 9Now.
Nine has forecast that 60 per cent of its underlying earnings in the next four years will come from its digital businesses, including Stan and 9Now, plus the digital operations of its publishing operations and near 60 per cent stake in property listing group Domain.
It booked a 16 per cent drop in underlying earnings of $355m for the year to June, with revenue from continuing operations down 7 per cent to $2.17bn. Its TV network, the biggest earnings contributor to the company, booked a 42 per cent drop in annual earnings to $123.8m.
Mr Janz is currently a director of the International News Media Association and was previously CEO of HuffPost’s local business for 18 months. The former journalist also founded Allure Media and was its managing director for nearly seven years.
He was also an online manager at Endemol Southern Star, as well as journalist at News Corp’s Australian business for more than six years.
Mr Sneesby has been CEO of Stan for just over seven years, with Nine recently agreeing to bankroll its move into sports streaming for the first-time next year.
Prior to that, Mr Sneesby was CEO of online voucher retailer Cudo for 19 months until 2013 and director of strategy and business development at ninemsn, which Nine took full control of in 2013 and subsequently shut.
Mr Marks, 54, informed staff in a memo on Saturday afternoon that he was leaving Nine.
In his statement, Mr Marks said a “formal process for both internal and external candidates” would be conducted to find his replacement.
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