Vinyl Group sheds senior commercial leaders
Batoul Peters and Jack Castles
Vinyl Group has parted ways with two of its most senior commercial leaders, Batoul Peters and Jack Castles, less than a month after finalising its acquisition of Val Morgan’s digital publishing arm.
The pair had been promoted just six months ago, Peters to chief business officer and Castles to head of commercial partnerships, ANZ, after joining the media company two years earlier.
Writing on Linkedin, Castles said: “All good things must come to an end — my time at Vinyl Media has been exactly that: good, challenging, and full of learning. I’m leaving with new skills, perspective, and a lot of gratitude.”
Neither Castles nor Peters could be reached for further comment.
When contacted for comment, Vinyl Group CEO Josh Simons directed Mumbrella to speak to a “company spokesperson”, before hanging up.
A spokesperson from Belleview Investor Relations subsequently told Mumbrella that Vinyl would “not be commenting on the departure of any individuals”.
The departures come less than a month after ASX-listed Vinyl closed a deal to buy the digital assets of Val Morgan Digital from Hoyts Group, essentially licences to monetise overseas brands such as Buzzfeed, Ladbible, Popsugar and Vox Media. The model matches that already adopted by Vinyl, which has the rights to publish Rolling Stone and Variety locally.
As part of the $10.5m cash-and-scrip deal, Hoyts Group CEO and president Damian Keogh joined the Vinyl Group board. Vinyl also entered into a cooperation and services agreement with Hoyts covering outdoor and cinema advertising cross-sell capabilities.
Peters’ and Castles’ exits follow that of chief operating officer Joel King, who left in November.
Two months prior, the Richard White-backed group made a number of redundancies, including head of publishing Tahlia Phillips, head of editorial Lars Brandle, and Rolling Stone Australia print editor James Jennings, whose contract was not renewed.
