Tim Worner’s Seven West demise abrupt, ‘mutually’ agreed

Seven West chief’s exit came amid falling revenues, a record low share price and poor TV ratings.

Former Seven West chief Tim Worner. Picture: AAP

Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes has abruptly ended the tenure of chief executive Tim Worner amid falling revenues, a record low share price and poor program ratings, handing the company’s former senior executive James Warburton the task of reviving the network.

Just days out from what are ­expected to be disappointing annual results for Seven West Media, Mr Worner has been shown the door, with his recent efforts in cost-cutting being overshadowed by a dismal share price and lingering questions about his judgment following a sex scandal involving Amber Harrison, a former personal assistant at the company.

Mr Stokes yesterday told The Weekend Australian that he “agreed mutually” to ­accept Mr Worner’s resignation on Thursday night, saying it was time to ­“refocus the company” in search of “additional forms of revenue” at a hugely challenging time for network television.

“Tim and I had a couple of long discussions last week about our position and where we were going in the future and I decided last night (Thursday) I would accept his resignation,” Mr Stokes said.

“Not easily, but I think the final consensus was we needed to focus on additional forms of revenue and improving our revenue base as well as improving our production.”

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Under the terms of Mr Worner’s departure deal, he will be paid about $2.6 million by Seven during the next 12 months — the media equivalent of silent gardening leave.

It means Mr Worner is being paid twice as much to not do the job as Mr Warburton, who is being paid $1.3m to replace him.

Mr Warburton has cited the network’s “ageing formats” and digital streaming products as key priorities for Seven amid a challenging free-to-air advertising market.

 

The Weekend Australian understands the decision was made following a Seven West board meeting on Wednesday, with Mr Worner finding out only on Thursday night about the decision to install Mr Warburton. He then agreed to step down.

It is understood Mr Warburton had been in informal talks with Seven West Media board member and Mr Stokes’s son Ryan as long ago as last year about the possibility of taking the job.

Mr Warburton knew his role as chief executive of APN Outdoor was coming to an end in October ­following its sale to JC Decaux for $1.1 billion. However, talks between Kerry Stokes and Mr Warburton are understood to have accelerated only very recently.

Mr Stokes dismissed any suggestion the Amber Harrison sex scandal contributed to Mr Worner’s demise, saying he had worked incredibly hard in the role for the past two years and it “grinds down” the best of executives.

“I’m not suggesting he had been ground down (but) he certainly had been putting in onerous hours and conditions because he cared so much, and it was just time to refocus the company.”

While tendering his resignation, Mr Worner, who led programming at Seven before taking over as chief executive, thanked Mr Stokes and the board for “ongoing support and counsel”.

Mr Worner was with Seven for 25 years and helped engineer last year’s grab of cricket from the Nine Network, with Seven paying $450m over six years to broadcast all home Test matches and 43 Big Bash League games.

Seven West Media’s share price had been up as much as 12 per cent yesterday following the news, but closed at 40c or 6.6 per cent higher, after slumping to an all-time low of 37c and falling below $600m market capitalisation on Wednesday.

Asked why the company didn’t wait until after results on Tuesday to make the decision, Mr Stokes said it needed to be done “quickly” rather than “dragging it out”.

“On my recommendation, the board appointed James,” he said.

“We were very lucky to have James available to step in. We made the decision it was better for everybody if it could happen quickly rather than dragging it out.”

Mr Warburton told The Weekend Australian it was a “no-­brainer” to return to the company that once tried to sue him when he accepted the job as Ten Network chief executive in 2011, with Mr Stokes and board member Bruce McWilliam pursuing him through court and delaying his start at Ten.

Mr Warburton said there had been “initial” talks with Seven West about the job, but denied it was being done as a tactic to head off bad results, saying the company had “reaffirmed the guidance” previously put to the market. “Really, it’s a matter of succession planning. Certainly from my perspective, it happened very quickly,” he said yesterday.

Mr Stokes downplayed the 2011 court battle over Mr Warburton’s services, saying the pair had patched up differences years ago when Mr Warburton took charge of the V8 Supercars franchise.

It was revealed during the court case Mr Warburton was referred to as “Mr Ambitious” by senior ­executives. While he has sold himself in the market as a master of turning around businesses, his record at Ten was poor, and he was let go after one year in the top job.

His run since has been impressive, taking over in 2013 as CEO of V8 Supercars, where he returned the business to financial health. In 2017, he left to lead APN Outdoor for 10 months before its sale.

His challenge at Seven West will be intense, with greater pressures on the company that owns the Seven Network and publishes The West Australian, The Sunday Times and Pacific Magazines.

Additional reporting: Zoe Samios