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If there was any proof needed of the Stokes family’s slackening hold on Australia’s media landscape, it’s clear in the person Jeff Howard, the man Kerry Stokes had picked to run Seven.
In a shock announcement this week, Howard was dumped from his role as chief executive of Southern Cross Media – the radio, television and print business that was formed from last year’s merger of radio business Southern Cross with Network Seven’s parent company, Seven West Media.
Stokes, who had controlled Seven West Media with a 40 per cent stake, became the largest shareholder in the merged group but with a slimmed-down 20 per cent of the company. Under the terms of that deal, Howard, who was previously the boss of Seven West Media, was to take the top job at the newly merged and enlarged media group.
He lasted less than two months in that role before the board of directors unanimously decided to find fresh blood, unpicking the previous governance agreement.
Under the merger agreement, Stokes relinquished the role of chair and left the board, and Southern Cross chairman Heith Mackay-Cruise took the position at the head of the table. Mackay-Cruise is still in place.
But Howard was sacrificed at the altar of profit performance, and the legendary media patriarch didn’t argue.
In the profit report released on Tuesday, it was abundantly clear that Seven West’s print and broadcasting businesses were struggling. Its December half-year earnings fell a precipitous 42 per cent in contrast to the radio assets of the pre-merger Southern Cross, which delivered strong earnings growth.
These management changes demonstrate that Stokes, who is now 85, had no interest in pushing for his former chief executive to run the enlarged company. It looks like the first major sign of the billionaire, who has previously backed scandal-plagued executives through thick and thin, taking a far less interventionist approach.
For decades, Stokes has wielded substantial political and corporate influence by controlling television assets around the country and dominating publishing in his home state of Western Australia.
Rivals have claimed his newspaper pursued them in retaliation for commercial snubs while Stokes has rubbed shoulders with premiers and prime ministers. But realistically, this influence has waned over the past decade as the power of traditional media is diluted by their audiences moving towards social media platforms.
Stokes’ son, Ryan, who is the chief executive of Seven Group Holdings, is one of two directors from the old Seven West Media to remain on the Southern Cross Media board.
Ryan Stokes has clearly planted his flag on growing the family’s fortunes through ownership of a number of heavy industrial companies, including Westrac, Boral and Coates Hire, and most recently has pitched a takeover offer for Australia’s largest steelmaker, Bluescope.
Media now represents little more than a pimple on the posterior of the Stokes’ empire – high-profile but financially insignificant. And Ryan Stokes has demonstrated scant interest in the media side of the business.
Indeed, it is unsurprising that as a board member of Southern Cross Media, Ryan Stokes would be fine with the decision to find a new chief executive, who is likely to come from the stronger Southern Cross side of the business to build up the combined entity.
Merging the two companies is all about cross-platform integration, using each of the assets to promote and increase the audiences of others inside the stable.
Seven’s rival, Nine Entertainment (owner of this masthead), which is more advanced in its rollout of cross-platform integration, reported a 7 per cent lift in earnings for the half to December 2025 on Tuesday despite the softer advertising market. It has announced the sale of its radio business and regional television assets, and the acquisition of outdoor advertising operation, QMS, having recently sold its digital real estate business, Domain.
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