SKT Sky Network Television Limited.

[Dlownz]

Sky share price down over 80% since Martin has taken over as CEO. He doesn't care about shareholders at all. The dividend payments should have been retained, even if it was as low as 4c/share. Sky is the definition of a penny stock now. Almost makes you want to say, "bring back John Fellet."

John is the reason for this mess.
If he had moved 2 years sooner alot of this could have been avoided. Adapt or die. He wouldn't adapt. Maybe he wanted to extract as much value as he could before he left. Leaving a shell of a former great company.

[mistaTea]

John is the reason for this mess.
If he had moved 2 years sooner alot of this could have been avoided. Adapt or die. He wouldn't adapt. Maybe he wanted to extract as much value as he could before he left. Leaving a shell of a former great company.

Yes and no.

I think it is absolutely true that John was overly cautious on cannibalising his high margin satellite base. And in hindsight, there were many moves that could have and should have been done sooner.

But it is also true to say that John was trying to maximise shareholder earnings in the face of a changing landscape - and he did have an obligation to maximise shareholder wealth, it doesn't necessarily mean he intentionally 'ran the company into the ground' in an attempt to just get one or two more puffs from the cigar butt before he threw the stogie in the gutter and buggered off.
He knew that the launch of OTT providers like Netflix was going to be bad for Sky, and that there would be other entrants over time since it is such a cheap distribution model.

He did release NEON very early on (2015). Unfortunately the first version of NEON was really bad to to use, and he did not put that much content on so that gave the app a bad reputation. So yes, NEON should have had much more focus. Sky GO also needed more updates and faster.

However, in the face of this new reality, John found a fantastic opportunity to merge with Vodafone in 2016. This move was the natural next step for Sky, and would have 'solved' their problems. It was a great deal and would have been awesome for consumers, but alas it was not to be. Some pundits report the merger attempt as a desperate attempt by an old white man who was clueless as to what to do next - but that is not true in my view. It was a well thought out plan that was a win-win for both companies and consumers.

Once that failed, John did do some tinkering (splitting up the Basic package into Starter and Entertainment, launched a Box Set sub for NEON at 11.99/month, and a Mobile-only FANPASS for $15 or so...). However his 'last hurrah' was supposed to be the merger. Once that failed, to be fair to John, he did acknowledge that he was not the best person to lead Sky into the future and they recruited Martin.

Personally, I am a fan of John Fellet and I admire the profitable business he built. He is also a Warren Buffett fan, and would model his shareholder letters in the same way Warren would - and if you go back and read John's letters, they provided a very good education on the media sector (i.e. he did not just give the standard spiel of "we made this much money, this our our EBITDA, growth of x% blah blah blah).

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I am sure if we had the opportunity to grab a beer with him and discuss his tenure he would be very candid and point out a number of things he could have done differently. Rightly or wrongly, I am still a fan of his.

[Dlownz]

Sometimes though I think the shares they hold hold more value to them so they gouge the business. Exit and sell the shares before people realise the businesses shape

[mistaTea]

Sometimes though I think the shares they hold hold more value to them so they gouge the business. Exit and sell the shares before people realise the businesses shape

For sure, but John never held a material amount of shares. He only had a couple hundred thousand or so, and he still held them when he left.

Even if he sold them, in relation to his pay packet the $400K worth of shares at the time was not a massive inducement for him I don’t think.

His lack of owning a material amount of shares (as well as the new lot) is a bone of contention though. He needed more skin in the game and so does current management (I just wish they weren’t getting it @12c per share when they never had any skin in the game to start with).

[sb9]

Fellet and team hung onto Sky monopoly situation in NZ far too long without taking notice of emerging online/digital trends in the media and not being proactive. Instead they were just too greedy and now the mess.

[Dlownz]

Has anyone heard if we are guaranteed our full allotment of 2.83 to 1

[Felonius]

Yes and no.

I think it is absolutely true that John was overly cautious on cannibalising his high margin satellite base. And in hindsight, there were many moves that could have and should have been done sooner.

But it is also true to say that John was trying to maximise shareholder earnings in the face of a changing landscape - and he did have an obligation to maximise shareholder wealth, it doesn't necessarily mean he intentionally 'ran the company into the ground' in an attempt to just get one or two more puffs from the cigar butt before he threw the stogie in the gutter and buggered off.
He knew that the launch of OTT providers like Netflix was going to be bad for Sky, and that there would be other entrants over time since it is such a cheap distribution model.

He did release NEON very early on (2015). Unfortunately the first version of NEON was really bad to to use, and he did not put that much content on so that gave the app a bad reputation. So yes, NEON should have had much more focus. Sky GO also needed more updates and faster.

However, in the face of this new reality, John found a fantastic opportunity to merge with Vodafone in 2016. This move was the natural next step for Sky, and would have 'solved' their problems. It was a great deal and would have been awesome for consumers, but alas it was not to be. Some pundits report the merger attempt as a desperate attempt by an old white man who was clueless as to what to do next - but that is not true in my view. It was a well thought out plan that was a win-win for both companies and consumers.

Once that failed, John did do some tinkering (splitting up the Basic package into Starter and Entertainment, launched a Box Set sub for NEON at 11.99/month, and a Mobile-only FANPASS for $15 or so...). However his 'last hurrah' was supposed to be the merger. Once that failed, to be fair to John, he did acknowledge that he was not the best person to lead Sky into the future and they recruited Martin.

Personally, I am a fan of John Fellet and I admire the profitable business he built. He is also a Warren Buffett fan, and would model his shareholder letters in the same way Warren would - and if you go back and read John's letters, they provided a very good education on the media sector (i.e. he did not just give the standard spiel of "we made this much money, this our our EBITDA, growth of x% blah blah blah).

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I am sure if we had the opportunity to grab a beer with him and discuss his tenure he would be very candid and point out a number of things he could have done differently. Rightly or wrongly, I am still a fan of his.

Thank you mistaTea.

This was a balanced & well-informed summation.
I appreciate you effort to enlighten us all.

[mistaTea]

Thank you mistaTea.

This was a balanced & well-informed summation.
I appreciate you effort to enlighten us all.

Appreciate the comment Felonius. I should point out (before I get trolled) that John is not my dad or any other kind of relation. He is not a family friend, and I have never had the opportunity to meet the man.

I just think that people tend to have 20:20 hindsight vision, and look back with a very 'black and white' view of events. The reality is there are a lot of grey areas, and if one put themselves in the CEO position at the time - you would realise that there were no easy decisions.

Maybe one day I will get the opportunity to watch a baseball match and chow down an American hotdog with John. Oh how I would love to pick his brain...

[Balance]

Appreciate the comment Felonius. I should point out (before I get trolled) that John is not my dad or any other kind of relation. He is not a family friend, and I have never had the opportunity to meet the man.

I just think that people tend to have 20:20 hindsight vision, and look back with a very 'black and white' view of events. The reality is there are a lot of grey areas, and if one put themselves in the CEO position at the time - you would realise that there were no easy decisions.

Maybe one day I will get the opportunity to watch a baseball match and chow down an American hotdog with John. Oh how I would love to pick his brain...

Or what's left of it?

[Quantitative Easing]

Good assessment mistaTea. John Fellet gouged the customers to look after the shareholders. But he put shareholders at number 1. Part of the reason why Sky is valued piss all is because the market does not have a whole lot of faith in Martin. He might be good for customers and sports bodies but he is not good for shareholders. Best we can hope for now is a takeover. The next best would be resumption of dividends.