Business of Media
Words of advice for the new ABC boss: Leave your door open and ignore the monkeys
Of all the people in all of the world, the ABC board landed on a local candidate when it went looking for a replacement for David Anderson, outgoing managing director. And who did it pick?, writes SMH’s Jenna Price.
Hugh Marks, former chief executive of Nine, who left the company unexpectedly in 2021. Completely out of the blue. Then revealed he was in a relationship with a member of his leadership team. And just now, he’s revealed that he had no idea that Nine had cultural problems during his tenure.
To be honest, I’m totally on board with the decision. After all, the board must have done a really thorough search with a reputable headhunting firm. God bless them all, and good luck to all who sail in her.
SBS MD James Taylor wasn’t interested in the gig. He had the good sense to know that even though the ABC is a bigger fish – more responsibility and more status – it would also be nothing but trouble. Hours, days and weeks in Senate estimates. Scrutiny from the entire universe. Although maybe not so much flak from the conservative side of politics. Let’s not forget Marks and Peter Costello got on very well during their time working together at Nine. Marks even hosted a Liberal Party fundraiser at Nine’s old digs in Willoughby. He later said it was a mistake.
New ABC boss says Nine’s culture problems never raised with him
New ABC boss Hugh Marks says he didn’t know anything about the workplace issues at Nine Entertainment during his tenure as chief executive and is shocked by the alleged behaviour of some staff members who went unpunished under his nose, reports the SMH’s Calum Jaspan.
Marks, who was announced as ABC’s managing director on Tuesday, ran ASX-listed Nine, the owner of this masthead, between 2015 and 2021. He notably steered the company through the largest media merger of the past decade, bringing together Fairfax and Nine in a $4 billion deal.
Marks announced his departure from Nine on the same day a column in The Sydney Morning Herald revealed he was in a relationship with Alexi Baker, the company’s former commercial boss.
Nine’s recent culture review, prompted by allegations made against former Nine News chief Darren Wick, covers a five-year period that includes some of Marks’ tenure as chief executive at the company.
Can Hugh Marks survive the ABC of minefields?
The ABC will have a new boss in the new year and the big question is not what Hugh Marks will do for Aunty, but whether the former Nine Entertainment CEO can survive one of the toughest gigs in the country, writes the SMH’s Elizabeth Knight.
On paper, Marks looks a good pick. He has plenty of experience running hefty media organisations with Nine, the owner of this masthead, the largest commercial media company in Australia, and he understands content.
Sure, his departure from Nine was ungainly, with his romantic relationship with a member of staff forcing the exit. But his performance as CEO, particularly with the value of hindsight, will be judged favourably by history.
What makes a good CEO in a listed company can be assessed fairly easily: the metrics of success are profit, return on capital and, ultimately, share price. As for governance, shareholders of public companies such as Nine are happy to outsource full governance control to the directors they vote in and the chief executive the directors appoint.
Will the ‘content guy’ Hugh Marks be content with ABC’s culture?
Hugh Marks describes himself as the “content guy”, writes The Australian’s James Madden.
And fair enough, too – for the past 30 years, he’s been producing, programming, and distributing content across television, radio and online platforms, and just three years ago co-founded an Australian film and TV studio, Dreamchaser.
Marks has also been described as a transformative CEO – at Nine, he grew the business from an $800m TV network into a $5bn digital-led behemoth in a declining advertising market.
On the face of it, ABC chair Kim Williams was right when he announced on Tuesday that Marks was the standout candidate for the job – the guy’s CV is off the charts.
But here’s the thing. When you’re managing director of the ABC, it’s not enough to simply be the “content guy”.
For starters, you’re beholden to adhere to a legislated charter that demands political impartiality and impeccable editorial rigour.
Entertainment
How Squid Game became one of the biggest TV shows ever made
How did Squid Game, a Korean-language drama about a series of murderous schoolyard games, end up as one of the biggest TV shows ever made? Launched on Netflix in September 2019, this unheralded, barely promoted take on a Hunger Games-theme quickly became the streaming giant’s most-watched series. More than 142 million households spent 1.65 billion hours watching it in its first month, writes the SMH’s Benji Wilson.
They are figures that are almost beyond comprehension, but creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk has a simple explanation for his show’s runaway success: “It’s because it’s simple. During season one as well, I always wanted to go simple. It could be the games, or it could be the symbols, I just wanted them to be very simple.”
By “the games”, Hwang is referring to Squid Game’s central competition. In the first season, the story begins with a man in a suit signing up the debt-laden and desperate for a tournament on a mysterious island in which one of them could win a huge sum of money.