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Nine expected to announce new CEO today
Chairman of Nine Entertainment Co, Peter Costello, is holding a media event at Nine’s North Sydney headquarters at 10am this morning.
It is expected he will use the opportunity to announce the company’s new chief executive officer.
Mike Sneesby expected to be announced:
Updated
Appointment of Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Nine has today announced the appointment of Mike Sneesby as Chief Executive Officer, effective 1 April 2021, following the decision by the current CEO, Hugh Marks, to step down.
NEC Chairman Peter Costello said “We are pleased to make such a significant appointment. Under Mike’s leadership, Nine will be able to maintain the strong momentum it has built in audience, subscribers, content, revenue and earnings. Mike is well placed to continue to drive Nine’s transformation as a digitally led business which is actively adapting to meet the contemporary media consumption habits of Australians.”
“I also want to pay tribute to the remarkable tenure of Hugh Marks, who in 2015, inherited a legacy television business with a market capitalisation of around $1.3bn. Through the combined strength that came from the Nine-Fairfax merger, our current market capitalisation has grown to just over $5bn. This is a remarkable turn-around and Hugh has my sincere thanks and gratitude for his work. His time as CEO has seen Nine make a number of key strategic decisions, which not only redefined Nine but changed the wider media landscape in Australia.”
Mr Sneesby said “I am honored to be entrusted with this important role, to be the custodian for many of Australia’s most important, valuable and iconic media brands. I have worked alongside my colleagues at Nine for many years and I look forwarding to building our future together as we embrace the opportunities presented in the emerging and growing digital future. The Nine family is made up of journalists, technicians, producers and so many dedicated to their craft, it will be the honor of a lifetime to lead them.”
Mr Marks will finish his term as Chief Executive Officer on 31 March 2021 and will remain available to assist with a handover to Mr Sneesby in the following months.
Mike Sneesby Biography
Mr Sneesby is an experienced media executive with a depth of local and international experience. He has been the CEO of Stan Entertainment, since its inception.
Mike was formerly the CEO of the Microsoft/Nine ecommerce joint venture, Cudo, up until its sale in 2013. Prior to that, Mike set up the invision IPTV service in Dubai as Vice President of IPTV for the Saudi Telecom/Astra Malaysia joint venture lntigral. Before joining lntigral, he headed Corporate Strategy and Business Development at ninemsn where he led the company’s corporate strategy function and established a portfolio of high growth digital media businesses including the start-up of MSN New Zealand and management of the EPG and listings business HWW. Prior to ninemsn, Mike led a company-wide program for Optus rolling out and launching their national ADSL broadband network.
Mike spent his earlier career in leadership and consulting positions gaining broad experience in digital media, technology and telecommunications in Australia, Asia and the USA. He holds an Honours Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wollongong and an Masters of Business Administration from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Hugh Marks turns up somewhere else after he sees out any non-compete period. There have been rumours in the media that he didn’t want to leave Nine.
This appointment is a clear indication of where Australian media is headed for the foreseeable future and where they see the growth and the majority of their revenue coming from. Seven West Media should be nervous and in fear of being left behind. They’re going to need to adapt and form partnerships quickly if they intend to compete on a rapidly changing playing field that sees SVODs like Stan and Paramount+ becoming key components of Nine and Ten’s business models.
Bruce Gordon will be overjoyed at the prospect of negotiating an affiliation agreement with a south coast raised, University of Wollongong educated lad who once installed TV antennas in WIN’s original broadcast area.
It will be remiss of Nine not to retain Marks as an advisor/consultant
Is this the WWOS studio?
@TV-QLD
Indeed so, my sir.
Thank you, majesty.
Out with the old, in with the new?
… absolutely spot on … 
If Bruce Gordon got his wish he would likely nominate Andrew Lancaster to join the Nine board according to the SMH. Lancaster would be Gordon’s puppet. My opinion is that this would likely put Bruce Gordon in breach of the Broadcasting Services Act because Gordon would then be a director of NRN owner WIN and effectively a shadow director of NBN owner Nine.
Back in 2011 a similar scenario existed when Gordon owned NWS and STW. He also owned 13% of Ten including ADS and NEW, and nominated Paul Mallam as his representative on the Ten board which effectively made Bruce Gordon a shadow director of Ten, imo, as Mallam was apparently taking instructions from Gordon. At the time I emailed a query to ACMA but it seems that ACMA concluded that Gordon hadn’t breached the Act.
This has been a long time coming if it happens. He’s invested so much money in the business through his investments. Even when Fairfax was merged in, he invested more to maintain the capped 15% stake.
How old is this man? He never seems to go away.
Bruce and Rupert Murdoch seem to be proof that god and the devil exist, both have signed a deal with the latter. 
I gotta agree. You’d think with the stake he has got he’d be angling for a seat on the board, and would be given one. This is why I’d think he might have the inside running for getting back the Nine affiliation for WIN, but then, they might be happy with SCA. Who knows at this point.
The only reason for not giving one to him previously was his stake in Ten, which has been gone for a long time now.