The billionaire Stokes family has retaken control of the company that owns Australia’s most-viewed television network.
Ryan Stokes has been appointed chairman of Southern Cross Media, the company that owns Seven Network, The West Australian newspaper and the Triple M radio network.
He’ll be the fourth chair of the company since its transformative merger with Seven West Media in January.
That deal was engineered by Mr Stokes’ billionaire father, Kerry Stokes, 85, who briefly served as the company’s chairman before stepping down in February.
In August, Southern Cross posted a full-year net loss of $13.1 million, a big swing from the $9.2 million profit it made in 2024/25.
Mr Stokes succeeds Teresa Dyson, who will remain on the board.
“Ryan brings executive and media experience and a strong record of delivery, and the independent directors back his appointment,” lead independent director Cathy O’Connor said in a statement.
Mr Stokes praised Southern Cross’s “outstanding brands, audiences and reach”, saying it has many opportunities ahead and the board would give executive Rohan Lund the strongest possible support to execute that potential.
Shares in Southern Cross Media were unchanged at 58.5 cents in early afternoon trading, on very low volume.
Mr Stokes also serves as managing director and chief executive of SGH, the industrial conglomerate formerly known as Seven Group Holdings.
SGH owns Caterpillar dealer WesTrac, equipment hire company Coates and construction material supplier Boral.
Southern Cross Media’s other assets include the Hit Network, the LiSTNR podcast platform, The Nightly news website and The Sunday Times newspaper.
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