AARON PATRICK: Nine’s new chairman may give billionaire Bruce Gordon more influence over the TV network

The next chairman of Nine Entertainment Co, the owner of the Nine television network and three leading newspapers, is known for a friendly manner, strong intellect and experience at or near the top of four big media organisations: News Corp Australia, Foxtel, the Ten Network and the ABC.

But one outstanding question hangs over Peter Tonagh, who will take over at Nine’s annual meeting on November 7: is effective control of the storied company about to shift to 96-year-old Bruce Gordon, who owns 28.8 per cent of Nine?

On Thursday morning Nine said Chair Catherine West intended to retire and would be replaced by Mr Tonagh, who joined the board in January. Mr Tonagh’s recent arrival and the fact no other shareholder has as big a stake as Mr Gordon created the impression that the appointment may have been orchestrated by the billionaire.

Ms West was a corporate lawyer caught up in a bullying and harassment scandal that rocked the company last year. By the time she retires she will have spent 18 months as chair, a period when Nine ended the expansionary strategy of predecessor Peter Costello and sold its stake in Domain, an online property marketing company. Reports say Nine may also sell its radio stations, which include 2GB in Sydney and 3AW in Melbourne.

The smaller Nine gets, the more vulnerable it is to Mr Gordon, who owns the Win regional television group.

Low profile

Even by media mogul standards, Mr Gordon is guarded. He does not give media interviews or give public speeches. His registered address is a mansion at the end of a road on a small peninsula in Bermuda. During the pandemic he moved into the Bennelong Apartments, commonly known as The Toaster, next to the Sydney Opera House, and still lives there, according to a person who knows him.

Mr Gordon would like to end his life in control of Nine, according to people who know him, and pass the company on to his children. He is legally allowed to increase his Nine stake three per cent every six months without making a bid for all the shares.

His representative on the Nine board, Andrew Lancaster, did not want to become the chairman because of his workload as Win Corp chief executive and chairman of the St George Illawarra Dragons rugby league club, according to a source.

By appointing Mr Tonagh chairman, Mr Gordon may be able to influence Nine without having to buy the company, which is valued at $1.8 billion. “It’s a takeover on the cheap,” said a person familiar with both companies. “The goal is to unite Win and Nine.”

As an affiliate of Nine, Win broadcasts Nine programs. But the network’s country heritage shows. It sometimes shows advertisements for DVDs of old Australian television shows owned by the Wollongong-based Win, including Division 4, a police drama filmed in the early 1970s.

Shares go nowhere

Mr Tonagh will not give interviews until he becomes chairman, Nine said. A former deputy chairman of the ABC, he resigned from the public broadcaster’s board after Kim Williams was appointed chairman in 2024, presumably because he was passed over.

The two men know each other well. Mr Williams gave Mr Tonagh his first media job as chief financial officer of Foxtel, which was controlled by Rupert Murdoch, in 2004. The pay-television broadcaster had never made a profit. Within a year Foxtel was profitable and thrived over the next decade.

Mr Tonagh spent 14 years in senior roles at Murdoch companies. After leaving Foxtel in 2018 he became chairman of Quantium, an artificial intelligence consulting firm mainly owned by Woolworths. Newspapers around the world are trying to work out if AI is a threat or opportunity.

Investors aren’t convinced Mr Tonagh’s appointment will make much difference to Nine, which has struggled for years in a tough advertising market. On Thursday afternoon Nine shares were unchanged at $1.16.