Channel Nine boss Mike Sneesby under fire for going on overseas holiday the same day as redundancy bloodbath
Channel Nine’s boss has been criticised after he went on holiday abroad on the day hundreds of staff were told they would lose their jobs due to cost-cutting measures.
Nine Entertainment CEO Mike Sneesby flew to Greece with his family last Friday for a week-long holiday after the media company cut 200 jobs.
The controversial CEO was spotted in the first class lounge at Sydney airport, believed to be on his way to a relative’s wedding, reports said. The daily Telegraaf.
It is clear that his annual leave was planned before the cuts.
But the timing couldn’t be worse for Mr Sneesby, who has already been questioned about his handling of former news director Darren Wick’s allegations.
A Nine employee told me The Australian The Greek trip was similar to Scott Morrison’s infamous decision to take his family on holiday to Hawaii during the devastating bushfires of the Black Summer of 2019-20.
“The timing is bad. He doesn’t seem to understand how angry the staff is,” they said.
‘He certainly doesn’t seem to understand how badly these cuts will hit Nine’s journalism.’
CEO Mike Sneesby (pictured) has come under fire for taking a holiday on the same day that 200 jobs – four percent of the company’s workforce – will be cut
An insider told The Australian: “It seems he is trying so hard to put a positive spin on things that the company has lost all transparency.”
Nine staff were reportedly surprised by an email informing them of the redundancies. This involved four percent of the company’s workforce.
Most of the jobs are expected to be lost at Nine’s publishing arm, which owns The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, the Brisbane Times and WAtoday.
It is believed that up to 90 jobs at the publishing house will be made redundant and 38 roles will be lost at Nine’s television studios.
The remaining layoffs will take place across the company. That’s why media trade union Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance tabled a motion of no confidence against Mr Sneesby and Nine’s entire board on Friday afternoon.
Mr Sneesby sits on the board with five others, including new chairman Catherine West following the recent resignation of her successor Peter Costello.
When he made the announcement last week, he blamed declining ad sales for the job losses.
Mr Sneesby also cited Meta’s decision to refrain from renegotiating payments for news articles appearing in Facebook feeds.
Embattled Nine boss Mikes Sneesby (pictured) blamed the lack of Olympic advertising revenue and Meta’s failure to negotiate payments for Australian news content for the job cuts
“It’s not something we want to do, but it is something we need to do to build on a successful platform of quality journalism and digital subscriber growth,” Mr. Sneesby wrote.
The network reportedly had difficulty selling the smaller advertising packages for the Olympic broadcasts, even though all major sponsors were already secured.
A new enterprise agreement is still being negotiated after the current agreement expired on Sunday.
The new deal would cost the network significantly more money in employee salaries.
The company’s troubles have impacted Nine Entertainment’s share price. It fell to $1.37 on Monday, which is a loss of more than 32 percent over the past six months.