Nine’s Chief Sales Officer is leaving. An email sent to Nine staff this afternoon from Nine acting CEO Matt Stanton announced Stephenson's departure, which was confirmed to Mi3. An official announcement is imminent.

Stephenson could not be reached at the time of publishing but his previous public statements harbouring ambitions to run an Australian media company are likely to be the trigger for his exit. 

It comes as Nine, led by Stephenson, Nine CMO Liana Dubois and Chief Data Officer Suzie Cardwell staged a large-scale plan at Nine’s annual upfronts last month to halt and claw back at least $600m in ad revenues that have bled from the TV broadcaster system in the past two years to global platforms and streamers.

Mi3 understands Matt James, currently Nine’s Melbourne managing director, and a former Publicis Media CEO, will step into the role in the new year on an interim basis while a broader recruitment process is finalised.

Stephenson is an 18-year veteran with Nine, the past decade as the group’s sales boss – it is likely he will land at another media company as CEO although that is unconfirmed.

In the official statement, Nine noted Stephenson's decade of tenure as sales chief and contribution to Nine’s Group Leadership Team, with accountability for advertising revenue across its total television, publishing and audio assets. In the internal staff memo, Nine also noted Stephenson has been in the chair as Nine developed its television trading platform 9Galaxy, launched self-serve advertising platform 9AdManager and chalked up BVOD revenue share growth to 47 per cent in FY24.

“Since Michael joined as Director of Sales for ninemsn almost two decades ago, Nine has successfully responded to the changing industry dynamics and consistently performed strongly in the advertising market. During his tenure, Nine has developed the television trading platform 9Galaxy, launched self-serve advertising platform 9AdManager and rapidly grown our BVOD revenue share to 47 per cent in FY24," Stanton said.

“We are fortunate high-calibre media executive Matt James is stepping in to lead the Sales team to ensure continuity for Nine’s key partners and sales team. With experience on both the media and agency sides, a strong background in digital, and extensive knowledge of Nine, Matt is well placed to ensure he hits the ground running with the Sales team during 2025.”

For the past four years, James has been Managing Director of Nine Melbourne and more recently worked closely in a senior strategy role across the wider Nine Group, as part of the Nine2028 transformation team. Prior to taking up the Melbourne role in 2020, he was CEO of global media agency Zenith based in London after previously holding the roles of inaugural Group CEO of Publicis Media and CEO of Zenith Australia and New Zealand. James also held senior roles with Nine earlier in his career, including Group Director of the client solutions division, Powered, and Managing Director of Nine’s Digital Media division.

"With experience on both the media and agency sides, a strong pedigree in digital, and extensive knowledge of Nine, Matt is well placed to ensure he hits the ground running next year with the Sales team. In this new role, Matt will be relocating to Sydney and joining the GLT," the internal staff memo, sighted by Mi3, read.

A recruitment process to confirm the appointment of a Chief Sales Officer on a permanent basis is expected to be finalised in the New Year.