Former Nine CEO Mike Sneesby has reappeared in a rather unexpected place—Riyadh.
Sneesby has been named CEO of MBC, the largest broadcaster in the Middle East. Based in Saudi Arabia, it owns 13 free-to-air channels, three radio stations and a streaming platform called Shahid.
The Saudi government controls 54 per cent of MBC and its founder and chairman Waleed Al-Ibrahim owns 36 per cent. It claims to reach 150 million viewers each week.
Sneesby replaces MBC’s longstanding chief executive, Sam Barnett.
In a statement released to the Saudi stock exchange, MBC said Sneesby had “demonstrated success in applying global technology trends to local markets, with a strong focus on digital innovation, media growth, and strategic partnerships. He has led large-scale commercial, studio, and sports rights deals.”
Al-Ibrahim said of Sneesby: “We have ambitious growth and expansion plans, and I’m confident that Mike Sneesby, along with our stellar team, will propel the group to new heights.”
Sneesby said: “MBC leads the way in media across the region and we will continue our growth with increasing global impact. We will deliver on this through innovation, creativity, digital transformation and our continued commitment to the production of world-leading content with fresh and compelling storytelling.”
The latter days of Sneesby’s tenure at Nine were hit with a series of problems. The business had highly publicised cultural problems a review it commissioned found that it had systemic issues with abuse of power and authority, bullying, discrimination and harassment, and sexual harassment. The review of the broadcast division, in particular, revealed troubling findings, with 62 per cent of employees reporting abuses of power or authority.
In July, Nine staffers passed a vote of no confidence in Sneesby after it publicly announced 200 redundancies across its publishing, digital, and broadcast divisions—blaming a tightened ad market. Later in the month, Sneesby and other execs were in Paris for the Olympics and he was pictured carrying the Olympic torch as journalists prepared to go on strike.
In September, Sneesby stepped down. However, he was lauded by peers in the industry for his work on digital transformation, despite failing to prepare for a declining TV ad market.
Nine appointed Matt Stanton, previously its chief strategy officer, as its CEO after a very long stint as acting CEO last month.
