Nine Entertainment (registered as Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Ltd[6]) is an Australian publicly listed mass media company with holdings in radio and television broadcasting, publishing and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate branding and also prefers this usage to be used for the parent company.[7]
The entity is largely a successor to the former Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL), which was established by the Packer family. The Packers officially ended their involvement with the company in 2008 and its name was changed to Nine in 2010. The company merged with Fairfax Media in December 2018, expanding its brands and investments across television, video on demand, print, digital, radio and real estate classifieds.
The company was a successor of the long-established Australian media group Australian Consolidated Press (ACP), created by Sir Frank Packer, whose Channel 9 was Australia's first commercial TV network. Kerry Packer inherited the company after his father's death in 1974. ACP was combined with the Nine Network in 1994 as Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd (PBL).
Under a split of PBL into two companies, after Kerry Packer's death in 2005, PBL Media, formerly held by PBL, was transferred to Consolidated Media Holdings (CMH).[9]
In June 2007, PBL announced that it would sell a further 25% to CVC Capital Partners for $515 million.[12] In September 2007, it was announced that the transaction was to go ahead at the increased purchase price of approximately $526 million.[13]
On 27 October 2008, James Packer and CMH representatives, such as Alexander, resigned from the board of PBL Media, effectively ending financial backing and future associations with the company.[14] James Packer later sold his media interests.[15]
On 16 December 2008, PBL Media issued a press release stating that the company's majority shareholder, CVC Capital Partners, had refinanced debt facilities as well as injecting in excess of $300 million. CMH stated that they would not be investing any further funds, and as such, CMH's 25% interest became diluted to a stake less than 1%.[citation needed]
From 2 December 2010, PBL Media rebranded as Nine Entertainment Company[16] In December 2011 former McDonald's Australia chief executive Peter Bush was appointed chairman following the resignation of Tim Parker. In February 2013 David Haslingden, previously President and Chief Operating Officer of Fox Networks Group, was appointed to the Board as an independent non-executive director and chairman.
In December 2013, Nine Entertainment listed on the ASX, trading as ASX: NEC. Vendors included Apollo Global Management, Oaktree Capital and Goldman Sachs who took over from CVC in a refinancing deal in October 2012 when Nine was on the brink of receivership.
In 2014, Nine Entertainment Co. founded online streaming company Stan with Fairfax Media, investing $50 million into the joint venture.
On 16 April 2015, Nine Entertainment Co. announced the sale of its Nine Live business to Affinity Equity Partners for $640 million to reduce debt and fund an ongoing capital management program.[17] In October 2015, the WIN Corporation purchased a 14% stake in Nine Entertainment Co. from investment fund operator Apollo.
In November 2015, Hugh Marks was appointed as CEO. He replaced David Gyngell, who remained on the board.[18] In February 2016, Peter Costello was appointed chairman.[19]
In March 2016, Nine Entertainment Co purchased a 9.9% stake in Southern Cross Media Group from the Macquarie Group.[20] On 29 April 2016, Nine Entertainment Co. ended a 27-year affiliation agreement with WIN Corporation, instead partnering with Southern Cross Austereo in parts of regional Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, after securing a 50% revenue sharing deal with Southern Cross, which is higher than its existing 39% deal with WIN.[21][22] Nine sold its stake in the business in September.[23]
On 26 July 2018, Nine Entertainment Co. and Fairfax Media announced they agreed on terms for a merger between the two companies to become Australia's largest media company. As a result of the merger, Nine shareholders own 51.1 percent of the combined entity and Fairfax shareholders own 48.9 percent.[24] After the merger between Nine Entertainment Co and Fairfax Media in December 2018, WIN Corporation's stake was diluted to 7.76% but later increased to 15.24% in January 2018.[25] In September 2018, it was announced that WIN Corporation's overall economic interest had grown to 25%.[26]
On 25 May 2020, Nine Entertainment sold their New Zealand subsidiary Stuff, which had been acquired during the purchase of Fairfax in December 2018, to Stuff's chief executive Sinead Boucher for NZ$1. The transaction is due to be completed by 31 May and marks the return of Stuff into New Zealand ownership. As part of the agreement, Nine will benefit from all proceeds of the sale of wholesale broadband business Stuff Fibre to telecommunications company Vocus Group, and ownership of Stuff's Wellington printing press.[27][28][29]
In November 2020, Hugh Marks resigned from the Nine Network after revealing he was in a relationship with a former colleague.[30] Nine Entertainment relocated from Willoughby, where it had been based for 64 years, to new offices at 1 Denison Street, in North Sydney in December 2020.[1][31]
In March 2021, Nine Entertainment announced the appointment of Mike Sneesby as Chief Executive Officer, effective 1 April 2021, following Hugh Marks resignation.[32] On 12 March 2021, Nine announced that it would be returning its regional affiliation back to WIN Television, ending its 5 year affiliation with SCA. As part of the deal, WIN will pay Nine 50% of advertising revenue and provide airtime to Nine's assets across the networks television and radio network. The affiliation switch was reversed on 1 July 2021. Upon the switch, WIN's unique branding was phased out in favour of Nine's metro branding with the WIN branding retained for local idents, promos, community announcements and sponsor billboards. However, WIN News remains under its unique name and format.
It was announced on 15 September 2021, that WIN's advertising department would be merged into Nine's advertising team with Nine's advertising platform 9Galaxy extending into regional areas from July 2022. This will mean advertisers in regional areas can book advertising directly with Nine for the first time instead of booking with WIN.[33]
In June 2024, Peter Costello resigned as chairman and was replaced by Catherine West.[34]
^Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited (27 August 2020). "2020 Full Year Results Announcement"(PDF). Nine for Brands. Archived(PDF) from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
^Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited (27 August 2020). "2020 Full Year Results Announcement"(PDF). Nine for Brands. Archived(PDF) from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
^Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited (27 August 2020). "2020 Full Year Results Announcement"(PDF). Nine for Brands. Archived(PDF) from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
^Gyngell, David (2 December 2010). "Company Announcement – Nine Entertainment Co"(PDF) (Press release). Sydney, NSW, Australia: Nine Entertainment Company. Archived from the original(PDF) on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2011. From today Nine Entertainment Company is our group's new title, new brand and new future. It will embrace Nine Television, Nine Magazines (through ACP), Nine Digital (through ninemsn, Carsales, Cudo and Sky News), and Nine Events (through Ticketek and Acer Arena) and thus draw together under one new banner all the outstanding people and vast assets of this great company.
$2.171 billion (2020)[2]
$4.4 billion (FY 2018)[5]
