Mike Wilson leaves Havas, IPG sells more agencies, plus Nine Radio's Tom Malone

Mumbrellacast

Havas Media Group chair and founding CEO Mike Wilson will stand down at the end of the month. The team discusses what his departure means for the agency group, and whether it will impact future integration for Havas with its parent company, French entertainment giant, Vivendi.

Weber Shandwick and Jack Morton Australia confirmed to Mumbrella this week that group managing director Helen Graney bought a majority stake in both agencies earlier this year. So why did the deal go under the radar, and what conclusions can we draw from this and other agency sell-offs by IPG both in Australia and across the Asia Pacific region?

Google and Facebook have each unveiled new initiatives to support Australian news journalism. Google will team up with News Corp to create the Digital News Academy, which they say will provide digital skills training and new opportunities for young journalists. Meanwhile, Facebook launched its $15 million news fund and the expansion of its Facebook News product to Australia. The team wonders whether Google and Facebook are really the savours of news journalism, amid smaller publishers still struggling to strike deals under the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code.

Plus, Nine Radio managing director Tom Malone joins Zanda Wilson to reflect back on 18 months or so since Nine took over control of Macquarie Media. Malone speaks about recent radio ratings and why Ben Fordham's commercial appeal is more important than his ratings.