What's New January 15, 2025

Amanda Laing the new Managing Director of Nine Streaming & Broadcast

RadioToday Network

Nine Entertainment has had “an operating model reset” with a new Executive Team.

As part of the restructure, the business will be streamlined into three divisions:

Streaming and Broadcast
Publishing
Marketplaces

Industry executive Amanda Laing (pictured) appointed Managing Director of the Streaming and Broadcast division, which will include Radio, Stan, 9Now and Broadcast Television.

The current Publishing division, led by Managing Director Tory Maguire, will expand to include nine.com.au as well as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review. Alex Parsons will oversee Marketplaces in addition to his Chief Digital Officer role. There is no change to the current business structure. The reset is part of Nine’s plan to reduce its cost base by a further $50 million in FY25, reduce duplication and introducing consistent, company-wide processes.

Amanda was most recently Chief Commercial and Content Officer at Foxtel Group and Managing Director at Binge with a background in television, streaming, digital, print and video-on-demand.

As part of its restructure, Nine has also named a new board member, Peter Tonagh, who was a member of the ABC board for several years.

Tonagh previously worked for News Corporation entities for nearly fourteen years in senior executive roles, including as Chief Executive Officer of Foxtel, REA Group and News Corp Australia. Before that he spent fifteen years with The Boston Consulting Group. He is also the non-executive Chairman of Bill Identity Limited, the GTN traffic network and ACT Capital Pty Limited. He is a non-executive director of Quantium Group Holdings and Chairman of Bus Stop Films.

Tonagh’s appointment is part of the company’s clean up in response to the damaging findings of the recent report on its internal culture.

An independent review of its workplace practices and culture found that Nine has a systemic issue with abuse of power and authority; bullying, discrimination and harassment; and sexual harassment. The systemic issues were caused by “a lack of leadership accountability; power imbalances; gender inequality and a lack of diversity; and significant distrust in leaders at all levels of the business,” according to the review.

As part of the new operating model, Nine will transition to a more streamlined eight-member Executive Team reporting to Acting Chief Executive Officer Matt Stanton.

Stanton said:

“Our operating model reset will help accelerate the strategic transformation underway at Nine by improving how the different parts of the business work together. Our new approach will better position the business to manage the challenging external environment and ensure the company is future-fit to sustainably deliver for our consumers, partners, shareholders and people.

“Aligned with the greater accountability that flows from resetting the operating model, I’m pleased to unveil a new and focused Executive Team to lead Nine through its next phase of growth. The appointment of Amanda, one of the top media executives in the country, will add extraordinary industry expertise and energy to Nine’s experienced Executive Team in 2025.”