Shareholders of Australia’s largest media company, Nine Entertainment, have delivered a strike against its remuneration report and chief executive Matt Stanton’s pay, after the company’s share price slumped 30 per cent in the past year.
Company chair Peter Tonagh defended Stanton’s record as chief executive after two influential proxy advisory firms, CGI Glass Lewis and ISS urged investors to vote against the company’s executive pay arrangements, in part because Nine is now a smaller business after selling Domain last year.
Tonagh rejected those calls, saying Stanton should not be punished for selling the digital real estate listings business and buying outdoor media firm QMS. The company will take the strike seriously, however, he said.
“Our perspective as a board is the argument that we should reduce Matt’s salary because he did a good job of selling a business and returning value to shareholders, and buying another one, which requires more work from him, is an argument that is not persuasive to us,” Tonagh said while fronting his first annual general meeting as chair of Nine.
The comments came during a meeting that was repeatedly sidetracked by a raft of eccentric questions from a number of retail investors, covering topics including the limited biscuit selection for shareholders and why the company doesn’t use AI to audit its finances.
“I notice in the foyer itself, all we’ve got is a tray of biscuits bought from local Metro and nothing more. I mean, things are not aligning, and you’re saving money by holding in these cramped little quarters. So that surely be an incentive to give something a bit more generously,” one of the elderly investors said. He was then backed up by another investor, who said the company had a “lousy reputation” for its hospitality spread for investors, failing to provide sandwiches or sushi.
Nine told the market 34.4 per cent of investors opposed the remuneration report, while more than a quarter of votes were also cast against Stanton’s performance rights for both 2025 and 2026.
Stanton’s base pay was $1.6 million last financial year and his total remuneration, including bonuses, was $3 million, according to Nine’s annual report.
A vote of more than 25 per cent against a company’s remuneration report is known as a “strike” and if a company receives two consecutive strikes, it sparks another vote on whether to force the board to stand for re-election.
Nine’s share price has fallen by almost 30 per cent in the past year, but has recovered somewhat since the mid-October low. Shares jumped 8 per cent to $0.80 on Friday after the meeting and trading update, where the company said it was on track to exceed its cost savings targets by $20 million to a total of $180 million. It also said it expected to grow revenue and earnings in the current financial year.
Opening the meeting, Tonagh insisted the company remained undervalued based on its diversified set of assets, which include a publishing business housing The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, streaming service Stan, QMS and the Nine Network.
“I’m asked regularly to explain this decline, and my response is always the same. In simple terms, I can’t speak to the market and the vagaries of it. I can tell you that my focus, along with our team, is on driving the performance of our business,” Tonagh said.
The shareholders also complained about the location of Nine’s headquarters in North Sydney.
Nine’s share price decline has been helped by 97-year-old billionaire Bruce Gordon’s company Birketu upping its stake to 31.2 per cent. Some argue Gordon’s shareholding makes a corporate move on Nine more difficult.
Nine was last hit with a strike against its executive pay arrangements two years ago, when then-acting chief executive Stanton and former chair Catherine West were punished for a poor share price performance and lingering questions over the culture of the company’s television news division.
Since then, the company sold its 60 per cent stake in Domain and spent $850 million purchasing QMS, the price of which has been queried by investors.
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Calum Jaspan is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect via X or email.From our partners
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