Another Nine executive takes an overseas holiday
As Nine Entertainment lays off employees and a third-party investigation into misconduct at the network rolls on, another senior executive will soon be jetting out of the country.
Last week, Nine CEO Mike Sneesby left Australia for a family holiday to Greece in the same calendar day he grimly informed 5,000 staffers their jobs might soon be culled.
“It is not something we want to do but it is something we need to do to continue to build on a successful platform of high-quality journalism and digital journalism and digital subscription growth,” Sneesby wrote, shortly before being spotted in the First Class Lounge at Sydney Airport.
Now, according to The Australian, managing director of Nine Publishing, Tory Maguire has informed her staff that she will be heading to Fiji for a holiday next week, after first flying to Canberra for the Midwinter Ball, which took place on Wednesday night.
The Australian has also reported that a document on Nine’s internal Slack channel outlining the more granular aspects of the job cuts was met with a smattering of Greek and Fijian flag emojis.
After being told last week that they would make up between 70 and 90 of the 200 job cuts, the publishing division — Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Australian Financial Review, Brisbane Times and WAtoday — were informed by Maguire that “this is the first time we have had to take headcount out of editorial since 2017, which is an extraordinary anomaly when you look at other news publishers around the country and the rest of the world”.
Maguire followed up at a Town Hall this past Monday by confirming that millions of dollars in Meta payments coming to Nine had officially stopped.
“The only thing we know for certain is that a very large chunk of revenue is coming out of our P&L. And the tap turned off last week,” she told staff, adding that further clarity on any job cuts will be shared in the coming months.
Mumbrella reached out to Nine, who declined to comment.
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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Look, it’s not like they hold a hose …
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Nobody has an issue with anyone taking a holiday, but if you are an extremely well compensated executive, at times like large redundancies, you are there to lead and be there.
For months, they knew that this was going to land, given that the redundancies hit just before the end of the FY.
So I have absolutely zero sympathy for what both of them are copping going to Fiji and Greece. There’s a serious lack of EQ on a very basic level from either. Someone just needs a photo of Mike doing chakkas with a Mythos for the full Scomo moment.
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adjective
1.showing or feeling no concern for others’ feelings.
Similar: heartless unfeeling inconsiderate thoughtless
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Tory and Mike got this one wrong. Total lack of empathy and emotional intelligence. At times like this, a leader (who is very well compensated to lead) does what they’re meant to. Communicate with staff effectively.
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“It is not something we want to do but it is something we need to do to continue to build on a successful platform of high-quality journalism and digital journalism and digital subscription growth,” Sneesby wrote,
Can anyone explain to me how getting rid of staff improves higher quality and growth. One would think as the Sydney Morning Herald continues to shrink and at the same time continues to get more and more expensive that less people would even buy it.
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People get laid off all the time, it’s unfortunate and devastating, but it is a fact of business and life. While the timing of these executives’ holidays may appear insensitive, along with the smattering of Greek and Fijian flag emojis in status updates, we must also consider the importance of family. These individuals, like everyone else, deserve the right to spend time with their loved ones, especially during school holidays. Have they not earned the right to a break, even amidst tough decisions? Is their mental health not important, or aren’t they afforded that luxury?
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Are the executives all still jetting off to Paris?
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I think it is wishful thinking that cancelling one executives holiday with their kids during the school holidays is going to much help to boost the bottom line and change some very challenging industry trends.
Think the cheap tabloid headline forgets there lot of people in the industry right now (if they a planned holiday – so be it) having to make tough decisions they genuinely don’t want to make.
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@Really!, she’s sacking 10% of the newsroom. What about the livings of all those people? Anyone with an ounce of EQ would not then jet off overseas. And let it be known to everyone!!!
Mike’s setting the standard though. LA last month, Greece this month, Paris next month. Is it any surprise there is no confidence in these “leaders”?
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Is it that they’re heading to an exotic location that’s getting us all riled up or just vacationing in general?
Would it be ok if they were just taking the family to Ulladulla ?
Because the Raddison Blue in Fiji is a hell of a lot cheaper than Bannisters Mollymook !
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