Tuesdata: How Seven’s James Warburton is once again Australia’s top paid media exec

Welcome to Tuesdata, our weekly analysis for Unmade’s paying members.

With annual reporting season winding down – and with it, the obligations to share financial details with the market – we’ve crunched the numbers to rank the pay of the bosses of every media and marketing company on the ASX.

Further down, The Unmade Index continues to sink.

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Despite SWM’s fading financial fortunes, CEO James Warburton takes top salary – again

It’s been a tough year for media company CEOs. Amid a weakening global ad market and subsequent cost-cutting imperatives, pressure to perform is extraordinarily high.

The newly released FY23 results reveal that, having missed their targets, almost all executives have taken a haircut on their bonuses compared to the boom times of the previous financial year.

Australia’s top paid media executive is James Warburton, CEO of Seven West Media. This is despite SWM’s market capitalisation being just one seventh that of his nearest rival, Nine, helmed by Mike Sneesby. Meanwhile, Seven’s $1.487bn revenues are only half that of Nine’s $2.7bn.

Warburton took home a total remuneration package of $2,772,180 in the 2023 financial year – just a little more than Sneesby’s salary for the same period.

However, this marks a decline of 18.5% in the Seven boss’s compensation, with Warburton previously receiving $3,402,337 in total remuneration for the 2022 financial year. And in the previous FY21 year, he had seen an even bigger package, of $7,623,157 thanks to hitting his targets on share price and profits.

Meanwhile, Nine CEO Mike Sneesby took home $2,699,462 in total compensation in FY23, a fall of 15% on his first year in the chair.

In the head-to-head comparisons for best rewarded salesperson, Nine’s chief sales officer Michael Stephenson overtook Seven’s chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette as Australia’s top paid media sales executive.

Stepho’s total package was $1,820,118, a fall of 2.6% on the $1,869,370 he made in the FY22 period.

Burnette took home $1,258,054 in total compensation, well down on the $1,895,756 he made in FY2022.

The third best rewarded media sales executive among those declared to the ASX was Southern Cross Austereo chief sales officer Brian Gallagher who earned $766,238 during his final year.

Meanwhile, Grant Blackley, who left SCA at the end of the financial year, also took a bumper payout on the way out of the door.

He was one of just two CEOs to see a jump in total remuneration for the financial year – likely explained by end-of-contract payouts. Blackley left with $2,432,688 – up 43.7% on the previous financial year.

Blackley’s successor John Kelly, previously chief operating officer, trousered $926,587 for the year.

Below the paywall, we feature our ranking of the earnings of every media CEO on the ASX.

Sticking with the audio sector for a moment, it’s not possible to make direct comparisons of the packages at SCA’s and its main rival ARN Media, which reports on a calendar year cycle meaning the data is six months old.

ARN Media’s CEO Ciaran Davis pulled $2,004,345 during 2022.

Next in the table after came Brent Scrimshaw, boss of communications holding company, Enero Group.

He took home $2,002,994 – just down from the $2,006,399 he earned in the FY22 period. Scrimshaw has a maximum STI (short term incentive) target of $594,090, and landed $424,350 of that.

Next came the boss of IVE Group, which has a heritage as a catalogue and magazine printing business and has since repositioned itself as a ‘holistic marketing company’. CEO Geoff Selig made $1,450,031, up from $1,230,768 in the previous year. Selig is the only current CEO to see his pay increase from FY22 to FY23.

Ooh Media is also on a calendar cycle, meaning CEO Cathy O’Connor’s $1,334,878 salary details are also six months old.

Domain boss Jason Pellegrino – who we termed ‘CEO of the quarter’ back in April thanks to the real estate platform’s improving share price – raked in $1,323,327 in the FY23 period, well down from the $3,183,172 he made the year before.

Meanwhile, for a radio minnow, Sports Entertainment Group – owner of the SEN radio network – pays its CEO well. In the most recent available numbers, which are a year old as SEG hasn’t reported yet, boss Craig Hutchison earned $928,901.

The Market Herald has not filed its numbers, so new CEO Tommy Logtenberg’s salary details are sourced from the announcement of his appointment.

Although Pureprofile has reported its numbers, it’s yet to file its annual report so Martin Filz’s details are also a year old.

Also missing from the table is Michael Miller, executive chairman of News Corp locally. Although the company is dual listed in Sydney and New York it doesn’t share remuneration details for local bosses.

The data also does not cover bosses of non-ASX listed media and marketing companies.

With the tide going out, CEOs are going to be challenged to justify to the market that they are worth their salaries. For instance, analysts on this month’s Southern Cross Austereo update call asked pointed questions about whether management costs could be justified in the context of a shrunken company. Kelly pointed out that he was on a smaller salary than his predecessor.

When shareholders see market capitalisations rise, they rarely begrudge the CEO sharing the gravy. When investments fall, senses of humour disappear fast.

Another rough start to the week on the Unmade Index

The Unmade Index took another battering yesterday, starting the week on yet another negative note. The Index, which measures how ASX-listed media and marketing companies are performing, fell 2.19% on Monday, marking a drop to 624.4 points.

The biggest laggard was Seven, falling another 3.23%. The company has seen a quarter of its value disappear over the last fortnight.

IVE Group followed suit with a 2.76% drop, and ARN Media fell 2.25%.

The two biggest stocks on the Index – Nine and Domain – saw modest lifts in their share price. Nine rose 1.25%, and Domain 0.54%.

That’s all for today. Thanks, as ever, supporting us through your membership.

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