{"id":183813,"date":"2025-10-02T00:40:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T00:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/183813\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T00:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T00:40:08","slug":"michael-stephenson-to-become-ceo-of-arn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/183813\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Stephenson to become CEO of ARN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Stephenson will become the next CEO of radio network ARN, replacing Ciaran Davis in January 2026.<\/p>\n

Stephenson, currently chief operating officer at ARN, moved to the radio network in early 2025 from Nine, where he spent close to two decades.<\/p>\n

He comes from a sales background, having held the top sales job at Nine and Ninemsn. He has also worked in sales at Seven and 10.<\/p>\n

Upon Stephenson\u2019s initial appointment in December, Davis praised his \u201cleadership style and extensive experience\u201d, saying it makes him \u201cthe ideal candidate to join our executive team\u201d. Davis said Stephenson will \u201cplay a key role in advancing our strategic priorities and generating exceptional value for our clients and our shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Davis will step down on January 15, and will also leave his role on the board of ARN Media as managing director. He has served as CEO and managing director of ARN since 2010. Prior to this, he spent three years as chief operating officer at Communicorp.<\/p>\n

Related: Why is ARN\u2019s boss so optimistic about the company\u2019s future?<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been a privilege to lead ARN Media over the past 16 years, working alongside a talented and passionate team,\u201d Davis said in an ASX release on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a clear transformation strategy in place and an excellent successor in Michael, I believe now is the right time to step aside. I want to sincerely thank the incredible people at ARN Media I\u2019ve had the pleasure of working with, as well as the board, our shareholders, and clients for their ongoing support.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hamish McLennan, chair of the board, thanked Davis for \u201chis outstanding leadership and commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cUnder his stewardship, ARN Media has navigated a rapidly changing media landscape and kept the company at the forefront of innovation. We are grateful for his vision and dedication.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephenson will take on the top role during a transitional period for the network.<\/p>\n

ARN\u2019s recent half-yearly financials show a 12% drop in revenue<\/a>, from $85.24m to $75.26m. This company turned a modest $800,000 profit (NPAT) during the first six months of the year. The company forecast the second half of 2025 will see a revenue percentage drop in the \u201clow-to-mid single digits\u201d.<\/p>\n

During the first half of the year, ARN\u2019s regional radio revenue dropped $2.9 million, from $56.6m to $53.7m, and digital revenues saw a $2.4 million increase (from $11m to $13.4m) a 21% increase that couldn\u2019t offset the sluggish radio results.<\/p>\n

Overall radio revenue dropped by 9% year-on-year. The division turned a $3.8 million profit before tax for the half, compared with $11.4 million for the first half of 2024.<\/p>\n

During that same period, the company launched into a $40 million cost cutting program<\/a>, which involved 240 job losses, the introduction of Stephenson as chief operating officer and Alexis Poole as new CFO.<\/p>\n

The company paid down $8 million in debt, decreased underlying costs by 5%, and \u2018actioned\u2019 $35 million in savings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ciaran Davis will leave ARN in the midst of a $40 million cost-out program and a major restructure<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve restructured the commercial team,\u201d Davis told Mumbrella in late August.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve brought in new leadership across several functions. We\u2019re enhancing our digital audio capabilities. The commercial team is settled in market. We\u2019ve seen some audience growth come back in the first half of this year, which is good. We should see share regain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re very well positioned to take advantage of the hard work and the difficult work that we\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of that difficult work involved the head count reduction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve simplified operations, which is a very difficult task to do. And when you\u2019re talking about people \u2014 headcount \u2014 out, it can be challenging.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we have executed very well over the last six months. The business is settled.\u201d<\/p>\n

ARN will hold its 2026 upfront event later this month, where it presents its advertising and programming slate for the coming year.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\tSign up to our free daily update to get the latest in media and marketing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Stephenson will become the next CEO of radio network ARN, replacing Ciaran Davis in January 2026. Stephenson,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[33024,64,63,72252,134,117625,136,20975],"class_list":{"0":"post-183813","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-arn","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-ciaran-davis","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-michael-stephenson","14":"tag-music","15":"tag-nine"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}