Exits and further redundancies within the corporate division of the HT&E business, as well as across the Australian Radio Network (ARN) executive team, have today been revealed.
Chief revenue officer Tony Kendall, who moved into the role in April 2017 from his role as ARN CEO, has been made redundant, as well as partnerships director Greg Tremain.
Kendall was responsible for leading and driving integrated group revenue across all of HT&E's assets and has extensive history across several sectors in media both in Australia and overseas. Prior to ARN he worked at Bauer Media as director of sales.
HT&E CEO and managing director Ciaran Davis thanked all for their" tireless efforts" in taking the group proposition to market and to Kendall in particular for his previous leadership as CEO at ARN.
ARN chief commercial officer Emma-Jayne Owens will exit the network and the role of commercial director Sydney and Brisbane held by Mason Rook has also been made redundant.
Peter Whitehead, who is currently ARN commercial director Melbourne and Adelaide, will replace Owens, joining the executive leadership team.
The news follows the sale of the Adshel business and, more recently, the exit of former ARN CEO Rob Atkinson late last year.
“As I’ve said recently, HT&E is a fantastic business with a portfolio of high quality investments, and a balance sheet the envy of the traditional media sector," Davis said.
"These changes are a result of our objectives to optimise the cost structure, reduce corporate costs and ultimately set the business up for ongoing operational effectiveness and further growth.
"ARN underpins HT&E as a market leading radio business and I’m looking forward to working with all our team to achieve ARN’s vision to create the future of audio entertainment focussing on our strengths in content creation, audience delivery and our relationships with advertisers.”
Davis, who took over the day-to-day leadership of ARN, following Atkinson's departure in December, previously told AdNews that there would be a closer alignment between the two businesses.
Davis, who has previously stated that HT&E wouldn't rule out the sale of ARN provided the price was right, said the same point could be made when it came to HT&E acquiring new businesses.
He said while there were no immediate plans or businesses the company was eyeing, it was open to the "right opportunities", provided it drove better value for shareholders.
In addition to its radio assets, HT&E, which was formerly listed as APN News & Media, also owns iHeartRadio, Conversant Media, The Roar, Emotive, Gfinity Esports Australia and more.
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