Williams walks News plank
Days before, Lachlan Murdoch - chairman of Ten Network and a director of News Corp - had been given the heads-up that Foxtel was planning to stick with Nine to bid for the rights rather than form a partnership with Ten. Murdoch was livid. He had held numerous talks with Williams over the months of June, July and August 2012 and was under the impression that Foxtel would side with Ten, a move that was commercially sensible and would breathe new life into the struggling network and even more importantly, deliver a king hit to arch rival Nine, which was in the middle of talks to renegotiate a mountain of debt to hedge funds. If Nine lost the rights, it would be weakened considerably.
It was high stakes. The ratings at Ten had been slipping and the NRL broadcasting rights had been seen as the network's panacea to stop the ratings rot. When it became official that Ten had been left in the NRL wilderness and that Williams had backed Nine, Murdoch felt he had been kicked in the guts.
One source said Williams was always the smartest man in the room but he overestimated the strength of his relationship with Murdoch. "He obviously believed Lachlan would get over the NRL. It was a complete misjudgment," he said.
His fate was sealed. From then on it became death by a thousand cuts. "It became a shit sandwich and finally took its toll," the source said. "Kim had enough and quit. I'm not saying he wouldn't have been pushed eventually, because Lachlan, the favoured son, had lost confidence in him and Rupert had to listen to him."
Until then Murdoch had been a huge fan of Williams and was behind the push to install him - and oust John Hartigan - as the chief executive of News Ltd in November, 2011.
Williams had been brought into News to transform it during a massive transformation of the media industry. He was seen as an inspired choice. His background was in broadcasting and digital, rather than the old world of newspapers. He was tough, smart and seen as a cleanskin in terms of not coming from a newspaper heritage, so could make tough decisions without missing a beat. Decisions that his predecessor had found hard to administer.
But his honeymoon with the company was fleeting. Within weeks he was coming to blows with editors, the circulation department, marketing and advertising. He brought in his own people, imposed processes and expected results - immediately.
One of his first head-on collisions was with the circulation department. The clash spread like wildfire because it was seen as a man having no idea how "things worked". In the broadcasting world ratings come out first thing each morning and Williams wanted the same intelligence on newspaper sales.
"Kim went to circulation and said 'I want to see how the papers are selling every morning.' He was told it couldn't be done and he went ballistic. For six months he was screaming at the circulation guys and wouldn't hear that it wasn't the way the system works, unless you want to spend $30 million to change it," a source said.
He then turned his attention to sales and marketing, and vented his spleen on the way they were being run. But when he turned to editorial and replaced some of the group's editors and hired Boston Consulting Group to identify cuts, those editors with a direct line to Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch started to fight back - behind Williams' back.
"They were leaking about him and he was leaking about them," a former News Ltd executive said. "This was unprecedented, as any problems we previously had never left the building. It was an unwritten rule and now everyone was leaking, even to Fairfax."
One source said Williams had been terrific for News but too many people with a direct line to the Murdochs thought otherwise.
When News Corp announced it would split the empire into two, one focused on the new media world, including pay TV, broadcast and movies, and the other focused on the traditional newspaper businesses, plus its stake in Foxtel, it shone a light on the Australian business from an investor and management perspective.
Media analysts calculate that The Australian loses $3 million a month and other publications are losing circulation.
A top level source inside News Ltd said: "The business is pretty shit and editors are at war. Rupert Keith Murdoch got tired of mediating."
Enter Col Allan, who landed in Australia to add some life to the newspapers and stir the pot. Williams knew the writing was on the wall when Allan landed without his prior knowledge.
The departure of Williams, who has been replaced by 69-year-old Julian Clarke, a long-time Murdoch man, has prompted speculation that he is warming the seat for Lachlan Murdoch's return. But that is unlikely. Murdoch has been there and done that and is now steering a successful FM radio business, DMG Radio Australia, and helping turn around Ten Network.
His father no doubt has a bigger play for him to one day run the Murdoch empire and all that that entails.
Frequently Asked Questions about this Article…
According to the article, Williams' exit followed a high-profile blow-up over the NRL broadcasting rights when Foxtel stuck with the Nine Network instead of partnering with Ten. Lachlan Murdoch was upset at being blindsided, confidence in Williams eroded and ongoing internal conflicts and leaks culminated in Williams deciding to quit.
The NRL rights were seen as a potential ratings lifeline for Ten. When Foxtel and Nine clinched the rights, Ten was left ‘in the wilderness’ and Lachlan Murdoch felt betrayed. That fallout weakened support for Kim Williams internally and contributed directly to the leadership change at News Ltd.
The article details clashes between Williams and several parts of the business — circulation, sales and marketing, and editorial. He brought in new people, imposed fast timelines, wanted daily sales intelligence similar to TV ratings, replaced some editors and hired Boston Consulting Group to identify cuts, which prompted leaks and open pushback inside the company.
A reported loss of roughly $3 million a month at The Australian, together with falling circulation at other titles, signals pressure on News Corp’s traditional newspaper profitability. For investors, that underscores why management is restructuring and why the Australian business has become a focal point in any corporate split or turnaround plan.
News Corp planned to split into two arms — one focused on new media (pay TV, broadcast and movies) and another on traditional newspapers plus its stake in Foxtel. For investors, that split highlights different growth and risk profiles across the business and makes the performance of the Australian newspaper operations and the Foxtel stake more visible to the market.
Williams was replaced by Julian Clarke, a 69‑year‑old long‑time Murdoch associate. The appointment was portrayed as a return to a Murdoch‑trusted hand rather than a radical strategic shift, and speculation that it was a temporary seat for Lachlan Murdoch’s return was described in the article as unlikely.
Foxtel’s choice to stick with Nine for NRL rights weakened Ten’s chance to regain ratings and gave Nine a valuable sports asset. For investors, such broadcast-rights deals can materially affect ratings, advertising revenue and competitive positioning across TV networks — and in this case had immediate management and governance consequences at News Corp Australia.
The article notes News Ltd hired Boston Consulting Group to identify cuts and brought in Col Allan to shake up the newspapers. Those moves signal management was pursuing cost reductions and editorial change to address declining circulation and losses — actions investors typically watch as indicators of how management plans to restore profitability.
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