Nine CFO Paul Koppelman steps down
After just nine months in the position, Nine’s chief financial officer Paul Koppelman has stepped down. According to an ASX announcement, Koppelman resigned for personal reasons, including the death of a family member.
Koppelman stepped into the position in September after the exit of Greg Barnes. Group financial controller, Graeme Cassells, will step into the role of acting CFO effective immediately.
This morning we have advised the market that our CFO Paul Koppelman has resigned for personal reasons.
Koppelman said he needed to put his family before his career at this time.
“My decision to stand down from my role at Nine is a deeply personal one and a time when I have had to put my family before my career. My wife suffered the loss of her much loved mother recently and she and my children need my total focus and love at this time, as we in Melbourne go back into severe COVID restrictions. These restrictions also meant I would be unable to attend results presentations and so the timing was made easier for us all,” he said.
“I have loved my time at Nine and it is a business I will continue to follow and enjoy from the outside, I wish Hugh and the team all the best and much success.”
In an email to staff, Marks thanked Koppelman for his work and said he had ‘great confidence’ in Cassells.
It was thought Koppelman was brought in to handle any further mergers or acquisitions, with his background including roles at Aconex, Medibank Private Limited and BHP. Nine CEO Hugh Marks said at the time that Koppelman’s experience would help the business continue its strength into 2020.
“I am delighted to appoint Paul to the role of CFO. Nine has undergone an enormous transformation over the past 12 months and the focus now will be on further strengthening our relative position within the media sector, and continuing to grow the operating performance of our business. Paul’s diverse experience across different industries and operating environments will prove a valuable addition to the senior leadership team,” said Marks.
Koppelman’s exit comes just shy of Nine’s financial results release, due the end of August. Nine is expecting to report group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $390m – $410m. Net debt is expected to be $300m. In 2019, Nine reported EBITDA of $424m and a total revenue of $2.3bn.
