{"id":337026,"date":"2026-03-19T07:09:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T07:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/337026\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T07:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T07:09:08","slug":"arn-shares-drop-as-kyle-sandilands-eyes-network-buyout-after-sacking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/337026\/","title":{"rendered":"ARN shares drop as Kyle Sandilands eyes network buyout after sacking"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARN tearing up Kyle Sandilands and Jackie \u201cO\u201d Henderson\u2019s combined $200 million contract may be the ultimate mistake that plays right into Kyle\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

A source close to the situation explained the ousted shock jock feels confident ARN\u2019s value will continue to dissolve without a flagship show, which could put him in a prime position to swoop in and buy the very network that just terminated him<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe short answer is the network is already pretty cheap,\u201d the source explained. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think ARN thought the share price would shoot up once Kyle and Jackie were gone because they\u2019d have these big contracts off their books but it has had the opposite effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

ARN reported in its 2025 financial report that revenue had fallen by 10 per cent and net profit after tax was $6.1 million.<\/p>\n

In February, ARN\u2019s shares were trading at about 35 cents. <\/p>\n

This was before Kyle and Jackie\u2019s on-air fight that ended with Jackie\u2019s $100 million contract being terminated<\/a> after ARN claimed she said she \u201ccannot continue\u201d to work with Kyle anymore. <\/p>\n

Kyle was suspended for 14 days because ARN claimed he\u2019d committed \u201cmisconduct\u201d during the on-air clash.<\/p>\n

He was then ultimately terminated at the end of his suspension via email at 12.03am. <\/p>\n

After terminating both Jackie and Kyle, who were costing the network $20 million a year, the company\u2019s shares are now trading at 33 cents. <\/p>\n

There hasn\u2019t been a huge plummet, but there also hasn\u2019t been a huge surge. <\/p>\n

The source said realistically it would still cost Kyle a cool $100 million to buy ARN, but he isn\u2019t looking to be the major stakeholder if a deal happens. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt just depends on the level of ownership that Kyle wants, you could become a majority shareholder for $51 million but I think he just wants to be a stakeholder,\u201d the source said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe just wants to have a say on how it is run and he has been on radio for so long that he\u2019s very confident on how a radio station should be run or shouldn\u2019t be run.\u201d <\/p>\n

News.com.au understands Kyle is still exploring his options and ultimately wants his contract reinstated, above all else, but he has been chatting to people about possibly buying ARN. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe is talking to companies and individuals. There is chatter,\u201d the source said. <\/p>\n

Kyle is also still planning to launch legal action against the network and will claim his contract was wrongfully terminated and the source argued that surely won\u2019t help the value of ARN either. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think terminating Kyle and Jackie has made potential buyers recoil because of the ongoing litigation. Who wants to buy a company that would potentially have to pay out two lots of $88 million?\u201d the source asked. <\/p>\n

This all coincides with the first round of 2026 radio ratings being released today, <\/a>which saw The Kyle and Jackie O Show end its run by securing the number one breakfast FM slot with a 12.7 per cent share. <\/p>\n

The show\u2019s cumulative Sydney audience for the period was 650,000, down 60,000 from the previous survey.<\/p>\n

The big question now is: will ARN be able to find a worthy, and likely cheaper, successor for the show? And will that put ARN overall in a better financial position? <\/p>\n

\u201cThe way I\u2019d look at the ratings and if ARN has made the right choice is if you look at the station in the year before Kyle and Jackie joined and then you look at the ratings after Kyle and Jackie joined there is a remarkable difference,\u201d the source explained. <\/p>\n

\u201cAre ARN really prepared to go back to those ratings?\u201d<\/p>\n

When Kyle and Jackie jumped ship from 2Day FM way back in 2013, the KISS breakfast slot had a 3.8 per cent audience share. After 12 months with the duo on the airwaves the share increased to a staggering 10.0 per cent in 2014. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile 2Day FM, which held 10.1 per cent audience share when Kyle and Jackie were on the network plummeted down to 3.4 per cent without them. <\/p>\n

The source argued that ARN may have made a grave mistake in undervaluing Kyle and Jackie and how much their listeners care about the show. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think they thought it would make the company appear healthier with Kyle and Jackie off the books and they probably did the maths on the back of a beer coaster and thought this was a good way to save money,\u201d the source claimed. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt least with Kyle and Jackie for all their faults, it was a show, that was part of the pop-culture landscape in Australia and it had relevancy and advertising with the show it meant something.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at the ratings! Australians like it!\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARN tearing up Kyle Sandilands and Jackie \u201cO\u201d Henderson\u2019s combined $200 million contract may be the ultimate mistake…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-337026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}