Profits beat popularity for the new Eddie

EDDIE McGuire last week said it was because he did not want to be an "accountant", but there was an even simpler reason he had to depart as the Nine Network's chief executive: he wanted to be popular.

EDDIE McGuire last week said it was because he did not want to be an "accountant", but there was an even simpler reason he had to depart as the Nine Network's chief executive: he wanted to be popular.

McGuire has not been replaced. But the man who has effectively taken over his role, Ian Law, the head of PBL Media - the media joint venture between PBL and private equity firm CVC, with assets including Nine, ACP Magazines and Ninemsn - doesn't care about winning popularity contests.

"A natural CEO doesn't care if anyone likes him or not, and Ian really doesn't," one insider says. "But Eddie wanted everyone to like him."

Law's lack of interest in popularity is perhaps best illustrated by his love of the ancient Chinese book, Sun Tzu's The Art of War. His tough, uncompromising nature is also exemplified by a now-legendary anecdote still retold around PBL's Park Street headquarters.

One PBL source recalls: "When he arrived at ACP, one morning some kid walked into a conference room bringing muffins, juice and coffee. Ian ordered him out of the room, saying 'We don't want any of that stuff in here.' He believed in walking into the room and doing business. He didn't want people to be distracted."

This anecdote also illustrates a personal frugality. One Park Street source comments: "He's not a long-luncher, and he doesn't appreciate it in others."

Insiders say Law has firmly been in control of the Nine network through much of McGuire's tenure, presiding over a period in which Nine has become much more conscious of cost-cutting.

Few doubt Law's austere attitude to business dates back to his many years at the cost-conscious regional publishing group Rural Press.

As one source puts it: "He attended the John B. Fairfax school of cost management, that has also brought us Brian McCarthy. That means frugal expenditure, attention to detail, no frills and maximum profits."

Law spent some 30 years in regional publishing, starting at the Stock and Land newspaper in Melbourne in the early 1970s as a general reporter. Law was straight out of agricultural college in western Victoria, where he grew up and where he still owns a farm in Mortlake. He slowly ascended the ranks of Rural Press, eventually becoming managing editor of both Farm Magazine, and Stock and Land.

Colleagues do not remember him as a "star reporter", but say he compensated with tenacity. One says: "You'd have to say it's surprising Ian has achieved what he has achieved. But he was very focused, and he knew how to burn the midnight oil. He had an inner self-belief."

Pat Francis, who worked as Law's deputy at Farm Magazine, also remembers him as a mentor. "As a business person, I don't know him, but as a managing editor, he was one of the best mentors of young journalists I've seen. He would take time to go over their copy with them, and never got annoyed or flustered."

When longstanding Rural Press boss John Parker retired in mid-1994, Law had already moved to the company's head office in Sydney. That made Law McCarthy's rival for the role of managing director of Rural Press that year.

McCarthy was the anointed successor, but former colleagues say Law used missing out on the Rural Press top job as a spur to move beyond middle management. "Ian had the shits for a while ... That's when he set out to be something."

Law's first move into the big league came in 1998, when he was put in charge of Rural Press's regional publishing division, including the Canberra Times, which has just been purchased from Kerry Stokes for $160 million.

It was here Law first developed his "cost-management" skills. "He learned the Rural Press formula of buying disparate entities, weaving them into the printing and management structure, and getting rationalisation benefits."

In 2002, Law took those skills to the other side of the continent as chief executive of West Australian Newspapers Holdings. But former colleagues say he "wasn't just a cost-cutter". During this period he also led the group into the purchases of regional radio stations and trader-type newspapers.

WAN's highest profile purchase under Law's stewardship was the $173.5million acquisition of a 50 per cent stake in Hoyts from Kerry Packer's private company Consolidated Press Holdings in late 2004, with PBL buying the other half.

It was a deal that raised eyebrows among watchers of WAN at the time, and even now baffles analysts, who see it as an odd fit among the company's assets.

For the March quarter, Hoyts's pre-tax profit contribution fell 9 per cent to $8.5 million - and its performance during WAN's ownership has been generally lukewarm. WAN chief executive Ken Steinke recently said the company was now open to selling out of Hoyts.

WAN's Hoyts purchase did, however, introduce Law to PBL's top brass, as he sat on Hoyts's board with James Packer and PBL chief John Alexander. Within a year of the Hoyts deal in November 2005, he was hired to PBL as chief executive of ACP Magazines.

Law said of senior PBL executives at the time: "I have come to know them well and regard them highly through that relationship."

One Park Street source says it was clear from the start Law would move beyond ACP: "A lot of people saw him as the anointed one." When James Packer announced the landmark sale of half of PBL's media assets in October last year, it was Law who became chief executive.

Despite his late career rise (he is now in his late 50s), Law has not adopted a high-flyer's airs. An expression he has become noted for around PBL is self-deprecating: "What would I know? I'm just a country hick."

One source at PBL believes he will adapt from the Rural Press mindset to become more TV program-oriented.

"He may be cost-cutter-in-chief, but he understands you've got to have programs," the source said.

"I don't think he will be satisfied delivering profits, but losing the ratings."