In an interview with Media Insider in June,<\/a> MediaWorks chairman Barclay Nettlefold described Australian reports of a possible management buyout as \u201cpure speculation\u201d.<\/p>\nHe did, however, proclaim: \u201cI love the asset \u2013 it\u2019s a great business, and that\u2019s all I can say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nettlefold told Media Insider that the sale of MediaWorks was proceeding, and that there were potential buyers, plural.<\/p>\n
He expected a sale to be confirmed by the end of September. \u201cQuarter three is where we\u2019re aiming for.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no hurry \u2013 we\u2019re just trying to make sure that we have the right process in place to ensure the best outcome for the business.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"MediaWorks]()
MediaWorks chairman Barclay Nettlefold and chief executive Wendy Palmer. <\/p>\n
MediaWorks has turned its financial performance around in recent years.<\/p>\n
Nettlefold said this was down to a focus on people and \u201cthe right product to market\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Leon [Leon Wratt, director of content] and Wendy have done a great job in getting the content right. They have reshaped some of the radio networks very well.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we\u2019re tracking above budget, which is fantastic to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Australian reported the company might sell for as much as between $120 million and $150m.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to comment on what the price is,\u201d Nettlefold said in June.<\/p>\n
![\"Stuff]()
Stuff owner and chief executive Sinead Boucher. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
Nova Entertainment is one of Australia\u2019s largest independent audio companies, owned by Lachlan Murdoch through his private investment vehicle, Illyria. <\/p>\n
It was founded in 1996 as DMG Radio Australia before rebranding in 2014. The business operates the national Nova FM network, smoothfm stations in Sydney and Melbourne, Adelaide talk station 5AA, and Central Coast broadcaster Star 104.5.<\/p>\n
SEN has exited direct ownership of New Zealand radio after selling its Senz sports radio network to the TAB in 2023. <\/p>\n
The Australian company, controlled through ASX-listed Sports Entertainment Group and led by founder Hutchison, remains a major transtasman sports media player through its Australian radio, digital, events and sports rights businesses.<\/p>\n
The former Senz network now operates as Sport Nation under TAB\/Entain ownership.<\/p>\n
Nettlefold earlier said the New Zealand radio market was more controlled than Australia. Here, there were just two big players \u2013 MediaWorks and NZME \u2013 compared with multiple networks across the Ditch.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have as much competition in the music sector or in talkback, so you\u2019ve got clear dominant players, whereas if you look at Australia, you might have three players that are fighting for the same money.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said MediaWorks had also made the call to exit news station Today FM in 2023 to focus on music. \u201cZB is too good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked what he would do to the company if he and management did take it over, he repeated: \u201cIt\u2019s pure speculation. I don\u2019t have anything to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand\u2019s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Palmer and Stuff have been contacted for comment. The Capital Brief said the sale of MediaWorks by its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3225,62148,1135,1040,138,1656,12513,1332,1138,78,2936,18917,15220,1073,15150,241222,111,43,139,69,26268,4965,1560,19346,61],"class_list":["post-560594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-according","tag-acquire","tag-australian","tag-bid","tag-business","tag-company","tag-failed","tag-fails","tag-firm","tag-in","tag-insider","tag-lachlan","tag-line","tag-media","tag-mediaworks","tag-murdochs","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-publisher","tag-radio","tag-report","tag-stuff","tag-to"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560594","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=560594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}