“When we went into COVID what a lot of other businesses did is they paused pay or cut back people’s hours,” Mr Marks told this masthead. “We just said we are going to keep paying everyone and we’re going to keep everyone employed,but we will make the structural changes that we would have made over the next two or three years now. Once you do that,those structural changes when the market recovers are all ready for the upside.”
Nine ownsThe Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age as well as television network Channel Nine,radio stations such as 2GB and 3AW and streaming service Stan. It also has a majority stake in real estate listings website Domain.
Mr Marks resignedin December after revealing he was in a relationship with his former executive,Alexi Baker. He would not be drawn on his successor but said Nine was in an enviable position compared to its competitors.
“A lot of other businesses talk about their podcasting and the revenue is one or two million,” Mr Marks said. “It’s just bullshit. If you are going to have a real diversification,they have to be businesses at scale. We’ve done that and the others haven’t.”
Nine was the best performer on the ASX200 on Wednesday and the share price rise pushed its market value to just below $5 billion.
Morningstar media analyst Brian Han was pleased with the results. “I’m impressed with the pace of structural cost cuts and digital transformation,” he said.
Martin Currie analyst Patrick Potts said Mr Marks would leave Nine in a strong position.