Updated ,first published
A director from Kerry Stokes’ old publishing empire Seven West Media will be the new chair of Southern Cross Austereo, the radio network that absorbed the media mogul’s former TV and publishing company in January.
Heith Mackay-Cruise announced his intention to resign on Monday morning after an influential shareholder called for him and two other directors to step down on Friday, marking a return for the company to the control of people who had served on Stokes’ board.
The merger, which had been sold as a merger of equals, quickly began to resemble a takeover by Southern Cross after Mackay-Cruise ousted a number of Seven-aligned senior staff and became executive chairman. That period is now ending.
Teresa Dyson, a lawyer and company director who joined Southern Cross’ board this year after eight years on Seven West’s board, will succeed Mackay-Cruise as chair. Kerry Stokes stood down from Southern Cross’ board in February, but his family maintains a 20 per cent stake in the company, and his son Ryan Stokes remains on its board.
Mackay-Cruise, who had worked for Packer media interests earlier in his career and was chair of Southern Cross before the merger, had taken over as executive chair after Seven West Media boss Jeff Howard exited the company shortly after the merger. Howard had become chief executive just one month earlier.
The merged company, which owns Triple M radio, the Seven TV network and The West Australian, appointed Rohan Lund as its chief executive in April, its third boss in a matter of months.
On Friday, Southern Cross shareholder Sandon Capital lodged a request to remove a number of the company’s directors, including Mackay-Cruise. The investor argued that the merger had been financially disastrous, with the value of the two independent companies sitting at about $430 million before the merger and about $280 million as a combined entity on Monday.
Marina Go, one of those directors targeted by Sandon, will remain on the board with the Stokes’ support, while the other, Ido Leffler, had already signalled his intention to step down mid-year. Go will be the last remaining director from Southern Cross’ pre-merger board.
Sandon’s managing director Gabriel Radzyminski told this masthead he was pleased with Mackay-Cruise and Leffler’s departures, having campaigned for change at Southern Cross since 2024 and opposed the deal with Seven West Media in late-2025.
“The axe which we have to grind is is that they approved a transaction that we think was not a good transaction. People have got to be held accountable,” Radzyminski said. “We’re please to see that Heith and the board have acted promptly.”
Dyson will start as chair on July 1, with Southern Cross now embarking on a search for two new directors.
Speculation has mounted over control of the company since the merger.
Stokes’ former associate and ex-Seven commercial director Bruce McWilliam has been building a financial position in Southern Cross, buying $14 million worth of shares last month. McWilliam was not mentioned in Monday’s ASX statement, but he is rumoured to be in line to join the company’s board. He was contacted for comment.
Lund, who has the backing of the Stokes’ according to one person with direct knowledge of the matter, told staff on Monday that despite so much change in a short time, he wanted the business to reset and regain energy, according to internal correspondence obtained by this masthead.
“I can also see it hasn’t been easy. So much change, so many new pressures, so much uncertainty, and for many of you, that original excitement for the business has been buried under the daily grind,” Lund said.
The changes are likely to quell early discussions regarding a sale of The West Australian and its West Australian Newspapers group, which have been previously reported by this masthead. While Mackay-Cruise helped push through the deal in 2025, during his two-month tenure as executive chair he cleared out a number of senior executives who came across from Seven, including television boss Angus Ross.
Mackay-Cruise said in a statement that “I believe SCA is well-position[ed] for the future, and it is the right time for me to move on to other challenges”.
Dyson acknowledged Mackay-Cruise’s service to the company and said she was looking forward to working closely with other directors over the transition period to bed down the merger. She said she would “carefully manage succession on the board”.
Mackay-Cruise and representatives for Stokes were contacted for comment.
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