‘No media visionary’: Kerry Stokes’ legacy is a weakened TV sector
In this opinion piece originally published as his Best Of The Week newsletter, Mumbrella publisher Tim Burrowes reviews the media legacy of Seven West Media’s Kerry Stokes .
Kerry Stokes (Seven)
On Friday the Kerry Stokes media era fizzled out.
At 4.26pm Southern Cross Austereo dropped an announcement to the ASX slightly earlier than expected — 85-year-old Stokes has stepped down from the board.
Just as all political careers end in failure, the same could be said for media moguls. Very few quit at the top.
Stokes steps down — although his son Ryan remains on the SCA board — with his stake indirectly held through his private company Australian Capital Equity worth just $32m. Last night’s closing price for SCA was $314m. SGH Ltd holds 20.06% of the company, and in turn Stokes owns 50.93% of SGH.
Perhaps not everything went Kerry Stokes’ way in the broader media sector, but I thought the summary published in BOTW was unnecessarily harsh.
And I can assure your readers, Dennis Merchant would concur, despite the fact that I can sadly no longer ask him if he agrees with my point of view.
I wish Mr. Stokes continued success in his heavy industrial sector.
Alan Robertson.