MediaWorks asks staff to take 15% pay cut as chief executive talks of 'fight for survival'

Wednesday, 1 April 2020

Staff at MediaWorks have been asked to take a pay cut to help see the company through the coronavirus crisis.

Staff at television channel Three owner MediaWorks have been asked to take a pay cut for at least the next three months to help the business through the coronavirus crisis.

Chief executive Michael Anderson said staff working for its radio, television and digital businesses had been asked to take a 15 per cent pay cut, from today, while those working in its outdoor advertising business, formerly QMS New Zealand, were being asked to take a 20 per cent cut.

Sources said senior executives across the business had also been asked to accept a 20 per cent cut and Anderson himself had agreed to a 25 per cent cut in his pay.

Anderson would not comment on what would happen if staff refused the pay cut.

'Like many businesses across the country, we find ourselves facing an extremely harsh reality,' he said in a statement.

MediaWorks chief executive Michael Anderson is understood to have agreed a 25 per cent drop in pay.

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'Covid-19 has caused a drastic decline in advertising revenue across all areas of our business which has resulted in a dramatic shortfall of cash-flow.'

MediaWorks was in 'a fight for survival', he said.

'We are doing absolutely everything we can to ensure we remain operational.

'This means making some very difficult calls to ensure the sustainability of our business in the coming weeks and months.'

The company was taking every practical measure to keep staff in employment 'for as long as we can', he said.

'MediaWorks' TV and radio stations have provided New Zealanders with news and entertainment for over three decades and we must do everything we can to make sure that continues long into the future.'

The company has been classed as an 'essential' media business, but like other major media firms is believed to have been impacted by a steep drop in advertising revenues since the level 4 lockdown was announced.

Last week, MediaWorks announced that it had put all its locally-produced entertainment productions on hold, including the 2020 season of Dancing With The Stars and The Block.

MediaWorks, which is owned by US private equity firm Oaktree and Australian outdoor advertising business QMS, announced last year that it was seeking a buyer for its television business.

A few invited potential buyers were understood to be doing due diligence on the company's TV business, but it is not clear how the coronavirus pandemic may have impacted that process.

Anderson said the sale process was continuing 'as we discuss it with interested parties', but it had no further information it could share at the moment.

The pandemic has already claimed one media casualty, with media business NZME this week closing Radio Sport.