Sydney-based independent media agencies the Media Precinct and the Chaos Group, owned by the same person, Glenda Wynyard, have gone into administration owing more than $6.8 million, according to documents lodged with corporate regulator ASIC.
Twenty-four staff are listed as creditors but the liquidators at PwC haven’t yet calculated how much they are owed.
The list of creditors of the Media Precinct and the Chaos Group reads like a who’s who of the industry in Australia.
Unsecured creditors include ARN ($137,262), Nine (more than $1 million), Campaign Edge ($203,000), Mahlab Media, OzTAM, oOh! ($227,000), Rock Posters Sydney, Seven Network, Roy Morgan, SCA, SBS, Vistar, WIN, TikTok, Media Federation of Australia, Mediaocean, Streetfighter Media.
The Australian Tax Office is owed about $3.6 million.
Daniel Walley and Andrew Scott of PwC were appointed liquidators on July 16 after a meeting of the members of the company resolved that the business be wound up.
The ultimate owner of both agencies, according to records at ASIC, is Glenda Wynyard who in 2015 was convicted of “dishonest business activity” relating to her then media agency the Media Counsel, according to the Serious Fraud Office in New Zealand.
Wynyard, then aged 49, was convicted of 11 offences and sentenced in the Auckland District Court to eight months home detention. On appeal, four of the original convictions were maintained and she was fined $10,000.
The Media Precinct, first registered as a company in 2017, describes itself as a full service media and content agency.
The sole shareholder is a company, Media Precinct Group, registered in 2021. The sole director is Glenda Wynyard and the owner of the shares is Wynyard Media Holdings Pty Ltd where Glenda Wynyard is registered as the sole director and the sole shareholder. The address is The Commons at 32 York Street, a coworking space.
The Chaos Group was registered in March 1999 and has the same ownership structure as the Media Precinct.
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