Peter Gammell

"WHEN PETER GAMMELL paid a visit from Scotland to see his ‘godfathers’ Stokes and Parker in mid-1987, he was impressed. Australian Capital Television had flourished to become what Gammell calls ‘an engine for growth’: its operating profits had paid off the $13 million purchase price so rapidly that only $4 million was owing on an asset now valued in tens of millions. With the golden goose 96FM and Jack Bendat’s Golden West Network (as South Western Telecasters had become), Stokes and his…"

"Deveson was to chair a board meeting on 30 March in Perth. He decided not to call a crisis meeting before then and did not brief other directors in detail, which made some unhappy when the story broke. They started blaming Deveson as well as Campbell. Stokes can recall being in his office with Peter Gammell when the rate-card story broke in March 1995. He and Gammell looked at each other and Stokes said something like: ‘I think we just got the chance to take over Seven.’ Stokes tends to sum up complex matters with a pithy line. ‘When a company is at war with its two major shareholders there’s always an opportunity for a man of peace,’ he deadpans, then chuckles."

"Cut to 2006. That year, as Peter Gammell puts it, ‘private equity came to town’, its saddlebags stuffed with billions. New York outfit Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) was the underbidder when James Packer sold the Nine Network, then threw itself at Seven on the rebound. It was a decisive moment. Seven was charging back in the ratings and revenue; conventional wisdom was to stick with a winning formula. But once again, Stokes’s antennae picked up a change in the climate ahead. Stokes refused to sell outright but agreed to a swift and private deal for a 50–50 joint venture with the New Yorkers. Within thirty days the new partners had formed Seven Media Group. Stokes banked a dowry of $3.2 billion, paid off all Seven’s debt and had $1.5 billion left."