Domain intrigue, TV ad market and Olympics in focus in Nine's earnings update
There's an intriguing subplot to the December-half update expected from one of the country's biggest media companies later this week.
Nine Entertainment's earnings are always watched closely by media industry diehards, but there's a particularly intriguing subplot around this year's half-year result.
While investors and media industry professionals will on Thursday want to hear how the Mike Sneesby-led business plans to cope with one of the weakest advertising markets on record, dealmakers will be listening closely for updates on another topic.
A couple of weeks ago, a story surfaced in one of Nine's own newspapers, The Australian Financial Review, stating that Nine's banker Michael Stock from Jefferies had canvassed a sale of its 60% stake in real estate listings portal Domain to both KKR and TPG.
There were no bites.
Still, the story has set tongues wagging inside Domain and Nine, and across the media industry. Because a story like that does not surface for no reason. Just what exactly that reason is remains a point of conjecture, with various theories abounding.
