Seven West Media

How is that not news worthy?

It’s a very private matter. We don’t need to know. He wasn’t even in charge of the company at the time.

It’s because he’s Seven West Media’s CEO that it created such a fuss…

Stand by for ACA to chase people around in their constipated robotic tones “interviewing”.

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While I agree, she has spilled the beans so that ‘private phase’ is now over and hence the public response by Seven.

You cannot expect the Telegraph to ignore this - it’s their bread and butter.

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He was still a senior executive.

It has had an effect on Seven’s share price so whether or not it was ‘news’ before, it is news now.

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Statement from Seven West Media

The Board of Seven West Media Limited (SWM) takes allegations being published in relation to its CEO very seriously and has met on four occasions this week to consider the unfolding issues being raised.

The Board continues to support the CEO, and the processes and decisions made based on the information at the time Ms Amber Harrison’s credit card misuse, and subsequently the existence of her relationship with the CEO, was brought to the attention of the company two years ago.

At the time, the Board appointed an independent accounting firm to establish the facts behind the misuse of Ms Harrison’s corporate credit card and to produce a comprehensive report. It was this report that lead to Ms Harrison’s termination and a settlement agreement being reached by the parties.

However, to allay any concerns that our shareholders may have the Board has determined it prudent to commission a further independent inquiry to establish all of the facts so as to confirm that all necessary matters have been and were taken into account.

The Board will work quickly to appoint an appropriate independent expert to undertake the inquiry and to report back to the Board as soon as they deem it practical.

Tim Worner has apologised to staff in an internal email for the unwanted attention the affair has brought to the network and his family.

All,

You would all be aware that last Sunday, a former employee released details of an inappropriate relationship with me.

Without reservation, I apologise to you all.

What I did was wrong. What I did is certainly not a reflection of the standards of the Shareholders, the Chairman, the Board, or any of you.

You are entitled to, and I hope expect, better decisions from me.

A lot of the allegations are factually incorrect but guess what, that doesn’t matter anymore.

The one thing I am not doing is making any excuses.

I obviously regret it and most of all I regret the unwelcome attention it has brought to the company and my family.

None of you deserve that. Not one of you.

Your achievements this year, and there are many, should not be tainted and overshadowed by this.

Ten years of ratings domination and another outstanding result from the television Sales team.

The integration of The West Australian, The Sunday Times, the west, perthnow and Seven Perth into one vibrant, buzzing newsroom.

And a magazine business that is transforming itself so quickly that in the last 12 months, according to Neilsen DRM, it has become the fastest growing digital publisher in the country.

For the first time ever, we are the number one media company on line in Australia, a leadership position we built during the 2016 Olympics and have held onto ever since.

You have achieved such feats through bloody hard work and the continued great execution of great ideas.

And in no small way, this is because of the culture at Seven West Media.

You should all be proud of that culture, but no healthy culture is static.

We cannot allow what you have all had to put up with this week, because of my mistake, to be what defines our values.

And I fervently believe it isn’t.

I am in no way sharing the blame here, but I do want to say that, like everything, elements of our culture can be improved and we will focus on absolutely confirming we have a safe and ethical workplace.

I will learn from my situation to help make this a better company. That is my commitment to you.

You have a culture of inclusiveness and of working with respect for each other. This plays a huge part in your capacity to put our customers first and give them what they want, whether they be advertisers, viewers, readers or online users.

You do what you do with great passion and integrity.

Our diverse workforce has been critical to our commercial success. We want to reflect the community of which we strive to be an even more vital part.

Every year we commit to improving our performance from the previous year.

And that must apply to our culture as well.

Next year we will have a renewed focus on underlining our values and the better internal communication of them.

We are also going to commit ourselves to another year of leadership.

The plans for that began a long time ago and are already well under way.

Once again, I thank you and salute you for your efforts in 2016.

I reiterate that my poor decisions should not in any way take any shine off what you have achieved this year.

2017 promises to be another exciting year. We want to continue to transform and it is our culture that enables us to continue that journey with purpose.

Have a safe, healthy and happy break for those able to get one in what is now a truly 24 hour, seven days of every week operation.

And get ready to charge into 2017 with more gusto than ever before.

Onwards,

TW

When I search for Tim Worner, Google thinks I want Time Warner.

Nearly forgot about this one. Great - print journalism independence and competition is no more in WA (WA Today should really do more printed editions now).

Is the concept of competing print outlets an expectation in other states? Being a Queenslander, we’ve been living with just The Courier Mail for decades now.

I’d have to check, but I think Sydney and Melbourne might be the only markets in Australia that still has competition in print journalism. And I’m certainly not willing to predict that might still be the case in even 5 years time…

SWM has appointed Andy Kay as general manager of Seven Adelaide, replacing Tony Davison who resigned last week. Kay will return to his hometown of Adelaide to take on the new role on February 1, in addition to his current role as general manager of Olympics and Commonwealth Games.

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Kay’s been around for many years.

Apart from being the executive producer for Seven’s Olympics since 2000, he was the EP for the Australian Open & Melbourne Cup for a decade as well. He was also EP in the first two years that Seven regained the AFL.

Moved to Melbourne in the late 90s & Sydney in 2009.

Congrats on the Seven South Australia GM gig :clap:

Seven Productions’ Boy to Man Goes Global

Seven Productions, the production arm of Australia’s market-leading Seven Network, today confirmed that one of its key new franchises, Boy to Man, has secured significant international broadcast distribution.

Boy to Man was originally commissioned in the US market for The Travel Channel and will now debut on the El Ray Network in the United States under the title, Rite of Passage.

In sales brokered directly by Seven, Boy to Man is set to debut on BBC Knowledge in Australia today while Mediaworks/TV3 has acquired the series for broadcast in in New Zealand.

In sales managed via Beyond Distribution, the series has also been sold to BBC Worldwide for BBC Knowledge across Asia, France 5, Discovery (CEEMEA), RTL Germany, SBS Discovery Sweden, YLE Finland, RUV Iceland, Blue Ant Media and Canal Evasion in Canada. Working with Beyond Distribution, Seven is confident of further expanding the programme’s presence in other international markets.

In Boy to Man, adventurer and filmmaker Tim Noonan embarks on a solo journey of self-discovery to worlds beyond his imagination to try and unlock the mysteries of what it means to be the ultimate man. With just his gear and cameras, Noonan first has to earn the tribe’s trust. Over the next few weeks, he is put through rituals, initiations and gruelling tests to man-up and prove himself worthy of their respect. Throughout the series, Noonan travels the world, stopping in places such as Siberia to join the reindeer people, the Nenets, goes native learning how to climb coconut trees in Guinea Bissau and trains a golden eagle with Kazakh men in Mongolia.

Commenting, Therese Hegarty, Director of Content and Rights for Seven said: “We are delighted for Tim and the production team in securing these international sales. The agreement to originally produce Boy to Man confirmed our strengths in the development and creation of original content for international markets. The commissioning of this series also underlines the opportunities for our 7Beyond joint venture in the United States market. The 7Beyond team developed and marketed the project in the US.”

Resignation of Non-Executive Director

Seven West Media Limited today announces that Sheila McGregor has resigned as a nonexecutive
director of the company.

Ms McGregor joined the Board in June 2015.

The company thanks Ms McGregor for her service to the Board and wishes her well for the future.

BOARD RECEIVES INDEPENDENT REPORT ON MISCONDUCT CLAIMS

Allegations made by a former employee of misconduct by the Seven West Media (“SWM”) CEO, Tim Worner, were released to the media in late December 2016 (the “Statement”).

Given the seriousness of the allegations involved the Board sought that an urgent and thorough independent review be conducted.

The review was conducted by Richard Harris, a litigation and investigations partner at Allens Linklaters1, and included interviews with key current and former executives and employees relevant to the allegations. The former employee, Ms Harrison, was also interviewed as part of the thorough review.

The review looked into each of the key allegations of misconduct contained in the Statement including: the payment of a bonus to Ms Harrison; the circumstances of the investigation into her corporate credit card expenses; the corporate credit card expenses of Mr Worner and other allegations of drug use and their personal yet inappropriate relationship, which concluded in 2014; and allegations of other inappropriate staff relationships by Mr Worner.

The Board has now received and reviewed Mr Harris’ report and has considered all relevant circumstances. The Board has concluded that the allegations of misconduct by Mr Worner have not been substantiated as the Board is satisfied that:

• the company’s identification of significant credit card misuse by Ms Harrison was not instigated by, or on behalf of, Mr Worner or his office and they had no involvement in the investigation.
• Mr Worner did not influence, nor play any role, in the awarding of the bonus to Ms Harrison other than signing the letters which informed her, and other Executive Assistants, of their bonus.
• company funds were not deployed in furthering the relationship by Mr Worner or with his approval. There were no irregularities in Mr Worner’s corporate credit card use.
• the strong and vehement denials by the four employees falsely accused of having an inappropriate relationship with Mr Worner are accepted without reservation and cast doubt on the veracity of other accusations.
• the allegations of illicit drug use by Mr Worner could not be substantiated.
• Mr Worner did not have any involvement in the way the company dealt with Ms Harrison after the relationship between them became known by the company.

This has been a tumultuous time for the entire company and with the receipt of the independent review this matter can now be brought to a conclusion.

The Board is aware that there were a number of communications that passed between Mr Worner and Ms Harrison that were of a highly personal nature that used language and expressed concepts that the Board finds totally objectionable. However, the Board is of the view that the communications were consensual, personal and private in nature and were only disclosed as a result of a breach of express confidentiality obligations.

The Board has at all times made clear to Mr Worner that while the relationship, which concluded in July 2014, was personal and consensual, it was inappropriate given his senior position in the company and not behaviour condoned by the company. Mr Worner has been disciplined by the Chairman and the Board and provided an undertaking this behaviour will not be repeated, as well as an apology.

However, the Board has concluded following the receipt of the independent report there are no grounds to take any further disciplinary action against Mr Worner beyond the action which was taken in 2014 when the Company became aware of the inappropriate relationship.

The Board has addressed all the issues that have been raised and is confident that Mr Worner will continue to run the company in the interests of all shareholders.

The final report provided to it by Allens Linklaters is subject to legal privilege and therefore cannot be made public.

Statement from Seven West Media

Seven West Media today obtained an interim, ex parte injunction in the Supreme Court of NSW against its former employee Ms Harrison releasing documents or information that is the property of the company, which she appears to have taken before she left her employment and which she has retained without authority and in breach of her employment obligations.

It became clear late last week that Ms Harrison is now releasing or divulging commercial in confidence emails and other documents that she has no right to hold, access or release.

These documents extend beyond the scope of the other dispute Ms Harrison has with SWM.

The relief sought is based not only on breaches of the Settlement Deeds but also and importantly on violations of obligations of confidentiality arising under the general law, the Corporations Act and her former contract of employment.

The court will consider the matter further tomorrow.

Great to be a lawyer on behalf of Seven - so much work :slight_smile:

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Opinion piece by Jeff Kennett, a director of Seven West Media, on Amber Harrison.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/jeff-kennett-enough-is-enough-let-the-facts-speak/news-story/0c7a6d0c34116bf32a8d85e26d017047?nk=deffcb22f60d337e314ceafce6784109-1487068084 (News Corp $$$wall)

Edit: Oddly, tonight this opinion piece it is the lead story on The Australian website.

Seven West released Half Year Financial Report for the half year ended 24 December 2016

Brief summary

Media coverage


Things go from bad to worse for Seven, with a 91% profit slump on the back of Tim Worner’s affair

SEVEN West Media shares have tumbled after the broadcaster posted a sharp drop in first-half net profit and dividends.

As the company sought to direct attention away from its ongoing battle with CEO Tim Worner’s former lover, Seven booked a 91 per cent drop in net profit to $12.4 million.

Its bottom line was hurt by a writedown on the value of website Yahoo7 as well as divestments and costs related to the defunct streaming service Presto.

Seven West Media profit down 90 per cent due to writedowns of Yahoo7, Presto

Even without significant items the net profit was down 30 per cent at $146 million, compared to $205 million.

“We are delivering on a successful strategy that provides us with a clear, continuous and sustainable plan for growth to 2020 and beyond,” chief executive Tim Worner said in a statement to the market.

Seven West Media profits plunge 91pc on writedowns

Underlying profit fell 32 per cent to $96 million from the previous first half and revenue rose 1.4 per cent to $905 million. The dividend will be kept at 2¢.

At the Seven television network profits fell 23 per cent, despite a 5 per cent increase in revenue, because of the jump in costs.

Seven West shares drop as profit plunges

Seven slashed its interim dividend by 50 per cent to two cents a share as operating costs rose 10 per cent to $756.6 million due to its coverage of the Olympics last year in Brazil.