Billionaire Bruce Gordon’s regional media company WIN is close to offloading its northern NSW TV station, paving the way for him to increase his stake in Nine Entertainment to 25 per cent and potentially agitate for greater board representation, reports The AFR’s Sam Buckingham-Jones . The 95-year-old, who is worth an estimated $1 billion, is the most influential shareholder at Nine. Gordon was a crucial voice in the decision to part ways with Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby , who announced his resignation last week after 3 1⁄2 years in the role.
He steps down at the end of this month. The Financial Review Rich Lister is now looking to sell Northern Rivers Television, or NRN, to Network Ten. He bought NRN in 2017 for $55 million from radio and TV company Southern Cross Austereo.
It will likely change hands for less than that. Two sources with knowledge of the discussions, who do not have permission to speak publicly, said the deal is nearly done. WIN and Ten declined to comment.
[Read more] The Guardian’s parent company has announced that it is in formal negotiations with Tortoise Media over the potential sale of the Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper. Guardian Media Group (GMG) told staff it was in exclusive negotiations with Tortoise after being approached with an offer that was significant enough to look at in more detail. The company said it had chosen to be transparent about the negotiations despite the fact that much of the detail of the talks rem.