(Bloomberg) -- Nine Entertainment Co. Chief Executive Officer Mike Sneesby stepped down after 3 1/2-years at the helm, leaving the broadcaster and publisher struggling with a plummeting share price and a tepid advertising market.
Sneesby will leave Sept. 30, Nine said Thursday. Matt Stanton, currently head of finance and strategy, will become acting CEO from Oct. 1 while the company looks for a permanent replacement.
Nine shares plummeted 57% under Sneesby’s watch as the domestic economy weakened and advertisers trimmed their spending budgets. Profit at the media company, which owns the Sydney Morning Herald and Australian Financial Review newspapers, along with a nationwide television network and local streaming platform Stan, slumped 28% in the year ended June.
Sneesby departs as Nine carries out a cultural review. According to the AFR, Sneesby’s position was under increasing pressure on several fronts, including his decision to pay out a senior news executive following complaints of inappropriate behavior.
Nine’s former chairman, Peter Costello, left the company in June after a physical altercation with a News Corp. reporter at Canberra airport.
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