Leckie takes the stand in Warburton case
"I'm not very bright, but I'm not stupid," David Leckie tells a court during the case against James Warburton.
- Published by David Knox
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Seven’s CEO, the always colourful David Leckie, took the stand today in the case against former employee James Warburton.
Seven is trying to enforce Warburton’s contractual obligations to the network which would prevent him from starting as TEN’s new CEO until October 2012.
Warburton’s lawyer, John West QC, questioned Leckie over conversations he had with Warburton, with particular reference to a likely takeover of Seven Media Group by West Australian Newspapers.
Leckie is set to be CEO of the newly formed Seven West should the $4.1b takeover be approved by Perth newspaper group’s shareholders today. Warburton had been offered the job of running television for the combined group but doubted he would have any power under Leckie.
West alleged that Leckie greeted Warburton at the start of a meeting with the words: “Here comes Mr Ambitious. I’ve been kicked into touch. I’ve been retired. How sad.”
But Leckie told the court that in the “rough and tumble of television you say these sort of things”.
He also denied that he resented the new Seven West position.
“I was looking forward to it…if the Seven West deal goes through it is going to be a truly exciting thing to run. The largest listed media company in the country. That’s a pretty cool thing to run,” he said.
West then claimed that Leckie said of the WAN board: “I’ll fix them right up. It will take me five minutes to fix the idiots on the WAN board. They are dopes. They wouldn’t know anything about television. They do not even know how to put a paper together. They just do what Kerry (Stokes, Chairman) tells them.”
Leckie denied the allegations.
Asked if he told Warburton he was free to take the TEN job he said, “Why would I do that?
“I’m not very bright but I’m not stupid.”
West said Leckie did not want to relinquish control of Channel Seven’s television operations and that he had told Warburton, “I will still call the shots”.
“(Mr Warburton) said to you, “mate, unless I have your honest support there is no point, so I might as well piss off,”West asked.
“He might have said that,” Leckie replied.
Meanwhile the takeover of SMG was a done deal in Perth today after 63% of proxy votes were cast in favour of the deal, despite some shareholders questioning the move.
“Given the proxies and the number of votes on the floor, it’s obvious that it will be approved with a substantial majority when the votes are counted,” Kerry Stokes said.
The case against Warburton continues.
Source: The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, Perth Now
7 Responses
It’s called succession planning and that bunch of dinosaurs at Seven have messed it up so it ends up in court displaying how neanderthal they all are. Boring as.
@deedeedragons @MuchoTB why do 7 want to take over Sarah Michelle Gellar?
They’ll just turn her into an awful vehicle for Kyle Sandilands.
I saw Warbuton on Nine News tonight, not a bad looking bloke.
Seven have just spat the dummy, perhaps it’s because they know the channel won’t be such a success without him. Reassurance for TEN
he didn’t need to take the stand to tell us he isn’t the brightest bulb in the bunch. sam newman must rolling around on the floor laughing
I love Sarah Michelle Gellar!! She has a new show premiering on CBS later this year.
“I’m not very bright but I’m not stupid.” Finally an admision of some sort that the highest payed ceo in australian fta media and the most ignorant and arrogant admits what we have all suspected. Maybe this could be the start of a culture change in the industry. The clear fact of the matter is that the 7 network did not have a succession plan for their rising star in the board room, so James Warburton just said right i will go somewhere where else where i am going to be rewarded for my hard work. That is what he is aiming to do. this is all 7s fault, nobody elses.
SMG? That always make me think of Sarah Michelle Gellar.