Gordon raises stakes at TEN (again)
WIN Television mogul increases his stake in TEN shares, ahead of the government's media reform bills.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
WIN Television’s Bruce Gordon has increased his stake in TEN shares, ahead of the government’s media reform bills being presented in Parliament.
The Australian reports he has increased shareholding from 14.56 per cent to 14.96 per cent, raising his economic interest in Ten to 18.56 per cent through a combination of ordinary shares and a derivative contract in Deutsche Bank, which holds shares on his behalf.
Under Australian corporate law, Gordon can increase his economic interest in TEN to 19.9 per cent.
In March Gordon was revealed to be the mystery party behind a purchase of a 3.4% stake in Nine, with the parcel of shares worth around $50m bought by Deutsche Bank.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has previously indicated it is “actively monitoring the situation” given Gordon already has 14.99% of Nine.
Labor supports the abolition of laws limiting mergers between regional and metropolitan networks but has not declared its view on the two-out-of-three rule, which stops anyone owning a newspaper, free-to-air licence and radio station in the same market.
5 Responses
Big bad Bruce is upto no good…. recently clearing out his production departments across the network (you know the ones that make TV commercials. which equals revenue – one could argue)… means he is clearing the decks to buy something…. and iam sure if he could, he would have VJ’s in every newsroom… makes sense… where can he save money with WIN now?.. My bet… he will buy TEN and rename it WIN… (when the Government allowes to do so)
How ironic, another version of Survivor, two old war dogs Rupert and Gordon fighting over the carcass of TEN while all the networks are searching for an antidote to a disease called streaming.
Even Gordon appears to have found ways to make the current ownership rules look redundant hedging his bets on a possible takeover of Nine or TEN, he can’t have both. The law should be strengthened to no economic interest in competing licences I would argue.
Any word against owning two fta licences in each market…?
As posted in “Here Comes Media Reforms Bill” post yesterday –
One to a market rule – A person (either in his or her own right or as a director of a company) must not exercise control over more than one commercial television broadcasting licence in a licence area.
Two to a market rule – A person (either in his or her own right or as a director of a company), must not control more than two commercial radio broadcasting licences in the same licence area.
Control – A person whose interest in a company exceeds 15 per cent is regarded under the current rules as being in a position to exercise control of that company.
The rules also acknowledge that control can be exercised in other ways, such as through a person being in a position to appoint a majority of the board of directors of a company.