Media firm NZME has a new board and new thinking, with Steven Joyce becoming chair and Jim Grenon appointed director after a somewhat lively, colourful and occasionally off-topic annual shareholders’ meeting.
“My hands have gone blue - it’s very cold up here,” said NZME chair Barbara Chapman, as she performed one of her final tasks in the role, closing the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in the plunging temperature of the company’s iHeart Lounge in central Auckland.
Earlier in the meeting, Jim Grenon - the Auckland businessman and substantial NZME shareholder - stood at the podium, wryly noting the cool blast of air at his seat.
“The first thing I will say is I don’t think I’m all that welcome here because that chair is awfully cold ... right under the cold draft,” he said, jokingly, to the almost 100 shareholders and observers in the room, as he began speaking to his nomination as a director.
It was the first time many individual shareholders, journalists and NZME executives had come face to face with the man who has been agitating for change at the publicly listed media company for the past three months.
To me, Grenon came across as disarming and open: “I have been a director for well over 50 years on 10 different companies where you get elected every year in North America, and I’ve never once had to pitch myself to the meeting in all those 50 years ... so this is quite different.”
He was also reflective, at one point answering a question about his earlier discussions with NZME’s biggest shareholder, Australian fund Spheria Asset Management.
They, too, had wanted change on the board, he said.
“Was it necessarily the exact same change that I was hoping for? Probably not, but at the same time, they saw me as somebody who could perhaps agitate.
“In Canada, we have a sport. It’s called ice hockey and you have agitators in that sport. Sometimes, maybe I should have been a little more graceful here, but in any event ... I tried a little Canadian style.”
He reflected on his soon-to-be fellow directors - former National Party MP Steven Joyce, sitting directly in front of the podium, and existing directors Sussan Turner, Guy Horrocks and Carol Campbell to Grenon’s right.
“I will say that I’m somewhat underqualified compared to this lofty board, but at the same time, I am reasonably qualified in getting into businesses ... that I didn’t necessarily know that well at the start, but very quickly learned.
“I do think in the end I managed to contribute significantly to them and they proved to be financially very successful. I would like to just say I’m looking forward to rolling up my sleeves.”
In a notice to the NZX on Tuesday night, following the shareholders’ vote, NZME confirmed the appointment of Grenon and Joyce to the board, as well as the re-election of Turner, alongside two other incumbents, Campbell and Horrocks.
At a board meeting immediately following the ASM, Joyce was appointed chair, and Bowen Pan will shortly be appointed as the sixth director.
Across two hours, the shareholders’ meeting had it all - Grenon and Joyce pitching to become directors and shareholders raising all sorts of issues, including one man’s complaint that journalists were ignoring the closure in 2022 of the Marsden Point oil refinery to New Zealand’s peril.
Another shareholder, Roger Colman, thanked Chapman for her service before suggesting she perhaps needed a whisky for the tumultuous period she had just endured.
Chapman, who has stepped down after seven years on the board including five as chair, chaired the meeting deftly and convivially, even if at times it threatened to descend into somewhat of a hot mess in the cold surrounds.
A couple of shareholders took the opportunity to speak on other off-piste topics for which there was no discernible question.
Another shareholder picked up a theme about workplace bullying. Chapman answered pointedly that personal attacks had no place in New Zealand corporate culture.
Some shareholders had more direct questions about a proposed editorial advisory board - a key plank for Grenon, who has been vocal in his drive to improve the journalistic endeavour of the NZ Herald, alongside wanting a lift in the overall financial and operational performance of the company.
The editorial advisory board will comprise lawyer, blogger and former ZB Plus editor Philip Crump and at least two others.
Who they might be, the editorial board’s scope and how it operates is still to be worked through by the new board and NZME’s executive.
“I love many, many, many things about New Zealand - and many things about NZME for that matter,” said Grenon, who moved to New Zealand from Canada in 2012.
“At the same time ... it seemed to me that things were drifting downhill - from my perspective, in any event, and these things are often subjective - and particularly on the editorial front.
“And I thought, well, maybe I can jumpstart something here and I’m very, very delighted with the way it seems to have worked out.”
Steven Joyce, the former National Party MP and radio industry entrepreneur, revealed he had bought shares in NZME last week.
He said he was a strong supporter of the media and its role in New Zealand society.
Answering a shareholder’s question, he said: “What’s changed in the last 30 years is that we now have a proliferation of media, including social media, which has changed the whole game. As you pointed out, it sometimes creates what’s known as fake news, although I must admit that fake news tends to be very much in the eye of the beholder. Often it’s shorthand for news I disagree with.”
He said the board set the parameters and allocated investment for the editorial division.
“The board has an important role, but the board also shouldn’t be making individual decisions about individual items.”
The new-look board would naturally bring “fresh pairs of eyes” to the strategy of the company and “a good challenge for the management team”.
“And some of it will be a fresh challenge - but it’s all done with the aim of lifting the role and success of the company and a good part of that is its role in the Fourth Estate, so rest assured that that’s very important.”
He spoke of watching “with great interest” the extreme challenges and changes in the media industry over the past 20 years.
“I’m a firm believer that there is a place in the New Zealand industry for New Zealand stories and New Zealand experiences to be celebrated. I think there’s a very strong market for it.
“I can assure you that my focus ... will be very much on achieving strong shareholder returns, by exploring and exploiting that niche of New Zealand stories and New Zealand experiences, whether it’s about real estate, whether it’s about the news, whether it’s about sport, or whether it’s about the experiences in radio.”
A shareholder wearing a black hat stood towards the end of the meeting: “I would like to ask a financial question.” It went down well.
He was seeking guidance on a dividend but Chapman deferred, saying that would be a matter for the new board.
Yesterday’s meeting came just a few hours after the long-awaited announcement that Trade Me had acquired 50% of Stuff Digital. The move is set to intensify Trade Me’s battle with NZME’s own real estate listings platform, OneRoof.
OneRoof’s future direction will be a huge point of focus for the new NZME board.
The company announced in March that Jarden was undertaking a strategic review of its property platform OneRoof.
NZME said it had launched the review to accelerate OneRoof’s growth and realise its ”full potential in delivering value for shareholders”.
Opportunities included the potential separation of OneRoof “to enable raising external capital, either public or private, to surface its value”; “potential pathways to value recognition and monetisation”; consolidation opportunities; and “additional resourcing and extra capacity opportunities”.
“A progress update on this independent review will be provided as part of NZME’s half-year results later in the year.”
At the shareholders’ meeting, NZME, which as well as the Herald, also owns Newstalk ZB, BusinessDesk, and a suite of music stations and regional news sites, provided a trading update and outlook to shareholders.
Chief executive Michael Boggs said the first four months of 2025 had delivered a “higher operating ebitda” than for the same period in 2024.
“While the market outlook remains uncertain, the first four months of trading combined with our cost savings initiatives see us well placed to deliver improved operating results for 2025.
“A number of cost reduction initiatives have been completed in the first half of this year and are expected to deliver annualised savings of $12 million.”
That included some $4m previously announced relating to the loss of about 30 newsroom roles at the Herald and BusinessDesk.
Boggs said the restructuring costs relating to those initiatives were not reflected in the year-to-date operating ebitda figure.
No guidance was issued for the first half or the full financial year.
“Unfortunately, the market remains volatile and economic commentators have softened their outlook from what was expected earlier in the year.
“Pleasingly, the economy is showing signs of recovery and lower interest rates are supporting overall economic activity.
“However, the market is not improving as much as we originally expected – it remains volatile and therefore we are taking a cautious yet optimistic approach."
In February, NZME reported a post-tax loss of $16m for the 2024 financial year after a non-cash impairment of intangible assets.
Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) of $54.2m was in line with revised guidance of $53m-$55m.
Operating revenue had increased 2% from $340.8m to $345.9m.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
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