Nine Entertainment has appointed Mike Sneesby as its new CEO.
Sneesby, the CEO of Stan, replaces Hugh Marks who announced in November last year he would be stepping down after five years running the media group.
“We are pleased to make such a significant appointment. Under Mike’s leadership, Nine will be able to maintain the strong momentum it has built in audience, subscribers, content, revenue and earnings,” says Nine Entertianment chairman Peter Costello.
“Mike is well placed to continue to drive Nine’s transformation as a digitally led business which is actively adapting to meet the contemporary media consumption habits of Australians.
“I also want to pay tribute to the remarkable tenure of Hugh Marks, who in 2015, inherited a legacy television business with a market capitalisation of around $1.3bn. Through the combined strength that came from the Nine-Fairfax merger, our current market capitalisation has grown to just over $5bn.
"This is a remarkable turnaround and Hugh has my sincere thanks and gratitude for his work. His time as CEO has seen Nine make a number of key strategic decisions, which not only redefined Nine but changed the wider media landscape in Australia.”
Nine, whose shares hit a multi-year high of more than $3 this week, has been a stand out player in the Australian media landscape, emerging from the coronavirus in better than expected financial health.
Marks has been driving the company to a digital future, has positioned the high value streaming platform Stan for more growth and has the Nine network increasing its share of the television advertising dollar.
Nine last month posted just a 2% dip to $1.163 billion in revenue in the six months to December despite the pandemic. The media group also maintained its dividends to shareholders at an interim 5 cents a share. Net profit of $178 million was 69% better than the same six months in 2020.
Costello says the decision to appoint Sneesby was made last week.
Sneesby has led the streaming platform Stan since its inception in 2013. He has also previously led the Microsoft/Nine ecommerce joint venture, Cudo, as CEO until its sale in 2013.
“I am honored to be entrusted with this important role, to be the custodian for many of Australia’s most important, valuable and iconic media brands,” Sneesby says.
“I have worked alongside my colleagues at Nine for many years and I look forward to building our future together as we embrace the opportunities presented in the emerging and growing digital future.
“The Nine family is made up of journalists, technicians, producers and so many dedicated to their craft, it will be the honor of a lifetime to lead them.”
Marks finishes his term as Nine CEO on March 31, with Sneesby stepping in on April 1.
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