The Daily Telegraph has published pictures of two more high profile media millionaires in an altercation, after Macquarie Radio Network boss John Singleton apparently lashed out at Fairfax Media and Network Ten director Jack Cowin with a broken wine glass yesterday.
This morning’s paper carries a double page spread of images showing Singleton standing over Cowin after a three hour lunch at an exclusive Sydney restaurant with the stem of a broken wine glass in his hand.
Police have confirmed they are “investigating the circumstances around the incident”.
The altercation comes almost exactly a year after the same paper published pictures of billionaire Network Ten shareholder James Packer brawling with long-time friend and Nine Entertainment Co boss David Gyngell on the street in Bondi.
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The paper reports Singleton, who made his fortune in advertising, said the flare up came after long-time friend Cowin teased him for drinking rose rather than beer.
“Singleton was displeased with this and whacked Cowin over the head with a bottle,” the paper reports Singleton telling them, referring to himself in the third person.
The bust up comes weeks after Fairfax Media took a controlling stake in Singleton’s Macquarie Radio Network. Cowin, who made his fortune through Hungry Jack’s, is a director on the Fairfax board.
Cowin told the paper “we were just like bear cubs playing around” downplaying the incident.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports the photographs were sold to the paper for $10,000 by the photo agency Diimex.
News Corp, which owns The Daily Telegraph, has recently moved some of its ‘premium’ content behind a more stringent paywall on its website, restricting readers from viewing it unless they are subscribers with a digital pass.
Following last year’s incident Gyngell was handed an infringement notice by NSW Police.
Alex Hayes