Up to 200 jobs to be axed at Nine
Up to 200 jobs are set to be made redundant at Nine as soon as Friday.
Nine Entertainment CEO Mike Sneesby notified staff of the move, with the first axings to come from the publishing division.
Similarly to Seven’s shake-up earlier this week, Nine attributed the cuts of up to 200 roles from almost 5,000 staff members to “the loss of revenue from the Meta deal and challenges in the advertising market”.
“In order for us to be able to keep investing in digital growth opportunities across Nine, we must continue to responsibly manage costs through the cycle,” Sneesby’s note reads.
“Last financial year we were able to improve the efficiency of our operations but in light of recent market events we are reviewing key parts of our business to identify further potential savings.
“Today we will announce measures in our Publishing business to offset the loss of revenue from the Meta deal and challenges in the advertising market. Unfortunately, this will result in some of our colleagues leaving us in the coming months. 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.”
It comes after Nine confirmed to Mumbrella on Wednesday that chief information and technology officer, Memo Hayek, was made redundant as the result of a merger between the network’s product engineering and product management teams.
In a separate note to staff seen by Mumbrella, managing director of Nine Publishing, Tory Maguire, said: “It is clear that we need to evolve our operating model and reset the Publishing business to create a sustainable future for the mastheads.
“In light of this the publishing division is going to have to make significant savings in FY25, right across the business. Over coming weeks the leadership team, including the editors, will be working on a plan to reduce staff costs, including in the newsrooms. 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.
“We will be focused on finding efficiencies where we can, and making prudent decisions so we can continue to invest in growth areas that are driving subs. We are looking at reducing the publishing division headcount by between 70 and 90 staff over coming months.”
Meanwhile, recently-appointed director of news and current affairs, Fiona Dear, confirmed that 38 roles will be made redundant from that division; 12 of which are already vacant.
“We are also looking to identify potential savings with casual and freelance roles and new technology,” Dear said in a note to staff.
Read the full note from Sneesby to staff seen by Mumbrella below:
Hi everyone,
I would like to update you on measures we are taking to ensure Nine is well-placed to manage through the current cyclical challenges facing media companies while continuing to invest in the digital opportunities that are driving growth across our business.
In recent years we have made great progress in transforming our business to meet the needs of our audiences as technology continues to change the way people consume media. As a result, Nine generates a higher proportion of revenue from digital and subscription sources than any other Australian media company and we have a balance sheet that reflects that success. I want to thank you all for your creativity and hard work which has made this happen.
However, Nine is not immune to the economic headwinds which are impacting many businesses globally. In order for us to be able to keep investing in digital growth opportunities across Nine, we must continue to responsibly manage costs through the cycle. Last financial year we were able to improve the efficiency of our operations but in light of recent market events we are reviewing key parts of our business to identify further potential savings.
Today we will announce measures in our Publishing business to offset the loss of revenue from the Meta deal and challenges in the advertising market. Unfortunately, this will result in some of our colleagues leaving us in the coming months. 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.
We are also in the process of identifying further savings including in our Digital and Broadcast businesses. An operational review of these businesses is underway and we will update you with further details about what this means for you and your teams in the coming weeks.
From our nationwide team of almost 5000 people, around 200 jobs are expected to be affected across Nine including some vacant and casual roles not being filled. Where possible, we will look for opportunities to redeploy our team members who are impacted and we will support them throughout the process. These are tough decisions and I acknowledge it will be an uncertain period for some of you.
It’s important to reiterate that Nine remains in a strong position. All of our business units are either completely = digital or have rapidly growing digital revenues – and each one maintains a leading position in their respective markets.
All of Australia will turn to our platforms (TV, Stan, Publishing, Digital and Radio) in July for the Paris Olympics. The games will be a showcase of what a truly integrated media company can deliver to every Australian and our advertising partners.
In order to continue our transformation and Nine’s leadership for decades to come we need to keep investing in our strategic priorities starting with the content, products and technology necessary to serve our audiences.
Mumbrella has contacted Nine for comment.
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Neil Griffiths is the editor of Mumbrella. He joined the company in October 2023.
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First Seven, now Nine (…and with the prevalence of house ads on Ten BVOD, I’m sure there are imminent Paramount/Ten changes given the state of “the current cyclical challenges facing media companies” that Sneesby mentions).
It’s important to consider not only the bottom-line health of media businesses but also the cultural capital they create. Media businesses may be moving to free-to-play digital and socially-powered entertainment, but if these new digital businesses have slimmer margins, will media leaders see Australian stories (fictional, dramatic, comedic or doco-style) as worthy of investment? If Masked Singer and the Bachelor are getting trashed now, where will the next Love my Way, Secret Life or All Saints come from? Or will Australian identity and culture be left to YouTubers and creators to capture (heaven help us)? If Netflix takes Aussie series’ like Secret Life off service, how do folks discover these shows if our only media consumption is digital?
Today, Meta, Snap, TikTok, and Google are appearing before a parliamentary inquiry on their operations in AU and the impact they have. Nine’s statement cites a “loss of revenue from the Meta deal and challenges in the advertising market”, so will Meta’s stepping back of its contributions through the News Media Bargaining Code be a point of debate in this discussion? Seven lost 150 people earlier this week, Nine lost 200 today. How will Meta be made accountable for this?
What can (or should) we do as a marketing community to keep traditional media businesses afloat for their cultural and democratic contributions? Split spend across performance and values-led investments in media brands we believe in to keep them afloat?
Appreciate commercial realities, but our industry is beyond suffering….how can we think differently to make for a more positive next chapter?
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Channel Nine shouldn’t be living off some Meta handout.
They should pull themselves up by their bootstraps and earn a living.
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Bet they wish they saved their bonuses instead of buying Louis Vuitton laptop bags …
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What amazes me is the lack of leadership. They knew the Meta money was not guaranteed where was the planning a year ago? Money spent on ostentatious Christmas party at Luna Park that could have saved jobs. Huge money spent on necessary reviews into culture that happened on CEO watch. Leadership knew they were making the redundancy decision for a month minimally, yet send an email, don’t front up on Friday and leave people to sit cold all weekend over it. Awful stuff.
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Does this mean that the upcoming trip to Paris is off for the board and the leadership team (and their partners)?
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Nine squandered the Meta windfall. And now want publishing to make up for the “shortfall”. Plenty of pointless executives on huge salaries should be the ones to go. Not those that actually deliver content to the mastheads.
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I expected this indiscriminate axe swinging of the spuds at NewsCorp… not at Nine.
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JANZ
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Email sent by CEO on Friday, no meeting until Monday from anyone making decisions, had to go home and tell kids not sure whether we can avoid camp and sit all weekend.
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