Decoding Peter Costello's final salvo from his Nine exit
Welcome to a Tuesday update from Unmade. Today: Peter Costello is out as Nine chairman. He dropped some hints about his successor Catherine West and CEO Mike Sneesby is his final statement. We dig into what he means.
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Peter Costello resigns as Nine chair, and on the way out, tries to stop deputy Catherine West getting the prize
It took three days longer than it should have, but Peter Costello eventually did the right thing and resigned as Nine chairman on Sunday night.
In the end, what did for him was not his board’s failure to get to grips with a toxic newsroom culture, a disintegrating business model and a plummeting share price. Instead, the last straw was Costello’s knocking over a reporter who was asking annoying questions. You can’t ask for safety for your own journalists if that’s how your chairman behaves towards them.
How we covered it on Thursday night:
Peter Costello's shoulder barge turns Nine's omnishambles into a shit show
For me, it’s not the dropped shoulder to put Liam Mendes on the ground that makes my blood boil. It’s the sneer afterwards, as Peter Costello looks at the journalist from a rival newspaper who has been asking impertinent questions, now lying at his feet.
So on Sunday night, Costello announced his departure.
Deputy chair Catherine West gets a battlefield promotion. But that's not the end of the matter. Along with an announcement for the ASX from Nine, Costello put out his own statement suggesting he doesn’t want her to keep the job. In part it was self congratulatory, and in part it was read-between-the-lines score settling.
We’ll start with the self-administered back pats.