Nine Entertainment head honcho David Gyngell allegedly told confidants between late April and late May that the network was struggling under severe advertising pressure.
Gyngell’s alleged admission to senior industry executives coincided with his sale of $1.5 million worth of shares in the company on May 20 — just two weeks before Nine’s stock plummeted 16.1 per cent and wiped $300 million from the company.
Both Seven and Nine’s share price fell sharply when a report outlining free-to-air ad spend over the coming 12 months proved to be worse than expected.
It has been reported that Gyngell’s actions are under surveillance by ASIC and as yet there is no formal case against him. However, the Nine boss could be held in breach of corporate governance and disclosure issues.
According to the The Australian ‘sources’ present at a series of meetings with Gyngell in late April, late May and early June said the chief executive spoke openly about the weak advertising outlook.
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Image sourced from Yahoo7.
