{"id":557822,"date":"2026-03-22T22:11:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T22:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/557822\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T22:11:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T22:11:16","slug":"kyle-and-jackie-o-standoff-leaves-millions-of-arn-shares-in-the-balance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/557822\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle and Jackie O standoff leaves millions of ARN shares in the balance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"John<\/p>\n

March 23, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n

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One of the quirks of the blockbuster $200 million contract offered to Kyle Sandilands and Jackie \u201cO\u201d Henderson in 2023 was the issuance to the pair of about 6 million shares in their employer ARN Media in place of bonuses.<\/p>\n

The idea, at least according to ARN, was to try to get the two presenters thinking more about what\u2019s good for the company, rather than just the ratings. But right now it looks like the \u201crevenue share\u201d idea hasn\u2019t been quite the incentive ARN Media chairman Hamish \u201cThe Hammer\u201d McLennan might\u2019ve hoped.<\/p>\n

\"MillionsMillions of shares issued to Kyle Sandilands and Jackie \u201cO\u201d Henderson hang in the balance amid a looming legal standoff with their employer, ARN Media. Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cARN Media\u2019s unique compensation package will incentivise [Kyle and Jackie O] to focus not just on ratings but also to drive commercial success,\u201d McLennan said in a statement when the arrangement was announced in late 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnique\u201d is one word for it. The company\u2019s share price is circling the drain at just 33\u00a2 apiece. The stock is down 54 per cent from where it was when the contract took effect in January last year, leaving ARN as a tin-pot company with a market capitalisation of a little over $100 million, and shaving millions in value off Kyle and Jackie O\u2019s combined stake in the process.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"Mario<\/a><\/p>\n

Now that ARN has terminated the duo\u2019s contracts, CBD hears the company will try and claw back those shares.<\/p>\n

Sandilands\u2019 and Henderson\u2019s recently terminated contracts took effect in January last year. At the time, their combined shares were worth about $4.38 million, when the company was trading at 73\u00a2. By market close on Friday, the shares had taken a $2.4 million haircut, and are now worth just $1.98 million.<\/p>\n

In the grand scheme of things Kyle and Jackie O, it\u2019s not an enormous amount of money. But the particulars of the duo\u2019s deal have been the subject of a groundswell of media industry chatter, after Sandilands indicated his lawyers are preparing to launch legal action.<\/p>\n

ARN and a representative for Henderson declined to comment. Sandilands\u2019 camp didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment in time for publication.<\/p>\n

Of course, the duo\u2019s financial arrangement is just one thread captivating media observers as we settle in for what could well be a protracted fight over whether ARN was within its rights to terminate Sandilands\u2019 and Henderson\u2019s $200 million deal.<\/p>\n

And who knows, by the time the looming legal battle is settled, maybe the duo\u2019s shares may finally be worth something.<\/p>\n

Cardboard king Anthony Pratt lures powerbrokers to annual knees-up<\/p>\n

Every year, the Australian billionaire Trump whisperer Anthony Pratt plays host to some of the nation\u2019s most influential names in business and politics.<\/p>\n

And so it was again on Saturday night, when a horde of influentials and hangers-on descended on Raheen in Melbourne\u2019s Kew for a night of festivities hosted by none other than Australia\u2019s MAGA man of the moment, Today show co-host Karl Stefanovic, for Pratt\u2019s packaging company Visy.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his wife, Jodie Haydon, were among those who turned out for the event \u2013 where homegrown pop star Kylie Minogue was the headline act \u2013 along with Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and her deputy, Ben Carroll.<\/p>\n

\"AnthonyAnthony Pratt with headline act Kylie Minogue at the annual Visy night in Kew. <\/p>\n

Also spotted at the function were Herald & Weekly Times and Tourism Australia chair Penny Fowler, along with Endeavour Group chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka and Lion chair Sir Rod Eddington.<\/p>\n

The Pratt family contingent, meanwhile, was represented by Heloise Pratt and her partner, Jon Stevens, along with Fiona and Raphael Geminder, Matthew and Georgia Danos, Bella and Jose Falk, and Sammy Geminder.<\/p>\n

Clive Palmer fails to convince the High Court (again)<\/p>\n

Serial litigant and terminal loser Clive Palmer has failed once again. Earlier this month the billionaire\u2019s bid to appeal a decision by the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia, in his effort to sue the corporate regulator, was knocked back by the High Court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proposed appeal raises no question of legal principle and has insufficient prospects of success to warrant a grant of special leave to appeal,\u201d the High Court wrote in its disposition. \u201cSpecial leave to appeal is refused with costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SerialSerial litigant and terminal loser: Clive Palmer.Getty Images<\/p>\n

We find ourselves here because Palmer launched legal action against the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) that was ultimately dismissed by Federal Court Justices Jonathan Beach, Katrina Banks-Smith and James Owens in October last year.<\/p>\n

In that matter, the businessman and his company Palmer Leisure Coolum Pty Ltd launched action against ASIC and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to challenge the regulator\u2019s use of its statutory power in the pursuit of Palmer. ASIC declined to comment. Palmer\u2019s representative did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.<\/p>\n

The action was only the latest in a series of bust-ups between Palmer and the corporate regulator. Of course, we don\u2019t expect it to be the last.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"JohnJohn Buckley<\/a> is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 23, 2026 \u2014 5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":["post-557822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557822","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=557822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}