Nine stock drops after Sandilands on-stage Stevanovic revelation
Did Stefanovic really tell Sandilands that Stephenson has taken Nine's clients?
Nine shares stumbled today, with a hefty 3% fall taking them down to a $1.8bn valuation.
The tumble aligned – perhaps coincidentally – with Kyle Sandilands claiming at last night’s ARN Upfronts that Nine had lost clients after the departure of chief sales officer Michael Stephenson to run the radio company instead.
At the event, in front of a 1000-strong audience which included investment analysts, Sandilands claimed he had been told by Nine’s biggest star Karl Stefanovic that Stephenson’s exit had damaged revenues. Sandilands told the room: “Stefanovic said ‘We’re fucked over here, bro, without Stepho. Stepho’s taken all the fucking clients to radio’.”
Nine’s performance was a lot worse than the wider ASX All Ordinaries, which lost 0.4% today. Nine has seen almost $200m shaved off its valuation over the last month.
Meanwhile ARN Media was flat for the day, while audio rival Southern Cross Austereo gained 4.2%. After the market closed, Spheria Asset Management told the ASX it had upped its stake in ARN Media to 12.6%.
Seven West Media lost 3.5% while Ooh Media lost 2.5%.
The Unmade Index closed on 462.5 points, a fall of 2.07% for the day.
