Sneesby: ‘We need to look after all our staff’; MEAA calls profits ‘slap in the face’ for journos
After posting bumper profits from its publishing division – which saw a 53% jump in EBITDA on FY2021 – Nine Entertainment Co. chief executive Mike Sneesby has cooled suggestions that pressure is mounting to deliver its masthead title journalists the pay rise they are after.
Nine Publishing, which houses mastheads the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, Brisbane Times, and WA Today reported combined revenue of $594 million and EBITDA of $180 million yesterday, in a result where total group profit also rose 35% to $315 million.
With several months of negotiations still ongoing between Nine Publishing and its Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) journalist members, the positive result has only led to mounting pressure to deliver the pay rise they are after.
“I’m not going to go into discussing anything specific in relation to the EBA, the publishing team is in that discussion,” Sneesby told Mumbrella when asked if the profits place pressure on the media company in its stand-off with staff.
“What I would make very clear is Nine as a media business is an organisation of over 5000 people nationwide. I think you’ll see in our actions as a company and in the way that we think and talk about the team, we’re very much focused on ensuring that we look after our staff and we do the right thing by our staff because they’re the people who are delivering these results.”
As part of its results presentation, Nine announced a 3.5% pay increase has been offered to the majority of its staff.
“And it’s part of the reason you’ve seen recognition bonuses paid,” Sneesby continued. “It’s part of the reason you see a much greater focus on our discussion around purpose as an organisation and what we do in investing in our staff across the board. So suffice to say, regardless of what happens in the EBA outcomes, we’re a company that focuses on ensuring we look after the team that is delivering the result, and that’s certainly front and centre for me.”
This was Sneesby’s first full financial year results since taking charge of the media company last April. Other key figures included revenue of $2.7 billion and net profit after tax of $315 million, as well as total group EBITDA growth of 24% on FY2021.
“You’ll notice in the commentary that we did make some indications around what’s happening in base salary cost increases in our business, and the fact is are increases right across the board, not just in publishing.”
In a statement yesterday, the MEAA called the publishing profits a “slap in the face” for journalists at Nine’s metro titles who have been seeking a pay rise.
‘We don’t foresee a world where the printing of newspapers doesn’t exist’: Sneesby
MEAA media section director Adam Portelli said: “Despite the windfall of the millions of dollars from Google and Facebook that boosted (Thursday’s) profit result, management has only offered a 3.5% wage rise to most staff – around half the annual increase in the cost of living. Staff already endured a pay freeze in 2020, while working harder than ever during the pandemic to keep readers informed.”
Last month, members of the MEAA at Nine’s mastheads voted to take steps towards protected industrial action in hopes of pushing through a deal. Asked if the company was prepared for its staff to walk out, Sneesby again declined to engage.
“I’d reiterate what I said before, which is, we focus on doing what’s right for the team, and that’s a big focus for Nine as a company. As I said I’m sure the team in publishing will reach the right outcome from their discussions on the EBA.”
Print subscription revenue fell 6% for Nine in yesterday’s results, with retail revenue also dipping 6%, while print advertising revenue did trend upwards 13%. Conversely, Nine’s digital subscriptions in its publishing business has proven a marked success over the past 12 months, with digital subscriptions and licensing seeing a 66% revenue uptick.
Sneesby said print remains part of the “long-term plan” for the business, despite the slight downturn in results, and as part of the long-term decline of print newspapers.
“Nowhere in our long-term plans do we foresee a world where the printing of newspapers doesn’t exist. So we continue to focus on a strategy that has both print publications, as well as digital publications.”
Nine Publishing’s strong figures were partly owed to existing deals with tech giants Meta (Facebook’s parent company) and Google, which Sneesby noted that without the pairing, EBITDA growth remained positive at 23%.
Meta has hinted it may look to pull out of its news partnerships recently, and Sneesby recognised the “commentary that has been made in international press”, but for Nine, it will continue to focus on working on its partnership on the ground at a local level, which he added while in its early stages (with both Google and Facebook), have been “very positive”.
“We’ll continue to make the right decisions within the business, but again, we’ll continue to work productively with partners like Google and Facebook.”
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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