EXCLUSIVE: How my experience as CEO of ninemsn profoundly changed my mindset

Founded in November 1997 as a joint venture (JV) between Kerry Packer’s Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) and Bill Gates’ Microsoft, ninemsn had resources that most start-up CEOs could only dream of. The vision for ninemsn was to build an online presence for the group’s magazine titles and Channel Nine television programs, and to provide the entry point for Microsoft’s consumer online services into Australia, including Hotmail, Messenger and Search.

I joined the business as CEO in March 1998. The joint venture was born with plenty of money (with a commitment of $50 million funding from each partner), access to the best technology available at the time, and a bunch of smart people who were hired from leading media, technology and communications companies.

An accomplished group of experienced industry executives had been assembled, their success reflected in the luxury cars parked behind our Paddington office. Both JV parties assigned the online rights to pretty much all their respective businesses to the joint venture; ninemsn had everything (money, technology, smart people and highly recognisable media brands) that you could imagine and reasonably want in any online start-up at the time. What ninemsn did not have at its birth were the human and relationship bonds or structures of an established business.

The day I started my personal assistant Annette warned me that the place was in desperate need of adult supervision. One of the first staff issues I had to resolve was dealing with disappointment from several of our team members that we were not going to shut down the company for a few days for the annual Mardi Gras celebrations.