Leaked emails sent between members of the board of directors of Seven West media reportedly show how the company dealt with the CEO who had an affair with his assistant and the executive accused of war crimes.
The emails highlight the internal turmoil and management that would see the company’s value nosedive, the AFR reports.
“In 2011 it was valued at more than $3 billion. It is now worth $200 million.”
The AFR says leaked correspondence between board members reveals what the board thought about VC-winner and Seven Queensland general manager Ben Roberts-Smith and former CEO Tim Worner.
“This seems to be a witch hunt and unfortunately Fairfax will target Ben all the more for being at Seven,” one director reportedly wrote to fellow board members when the story naming Roberts-Smith was published in the Fairfax papers in 2018.
The AFR reports the emails show chairman Kerry Stokes’ support for Worner after it became public the CEO had an affair with executive assistant Amber Harrison.
“They reveal that a number of board members wanted Worner gone, but their advice fell on deaf ears,” the AFR said.
“The emails also expose poor corporate governance, with new board members not briefed about the precarious predicament of their CEO when they joined, or for the next 18 months.
“These directors only discovered the ugly mess their most senior staffer was in when the story broke in the papers.”
James Warburton replaced Worner as CEO in 2019.
Roberts-Smith failed in September this year in a High Court challenge to a Federal Court ruling against his bid to sue Nine newspapers.
Seven West and radio and audio broadcaster SCA are in the process of merging.
The combined group would have combined revenue of $1.777 billion and have a market capitalisation of $417 million.
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