And then there were four ...
The announcement from Nine on Tuesday that two of its directors, Elizabeth Gaines and Holly Kramer, had resigned, reducing the board to only four, had media observers reading between the lines of the official statement to divine if there was perhaps a bigger story.
Sadly, it doesn't appear there is as Gaines is leaving to take on the not-inconsiderable job of managing Twiggy Forrest's finances, while Kramer is said to have made the decision to "allow her to restructure her board portfolio".
And what a portfolio it is. With directorships of AMP, Australia Post and Woolworths, the former Best & Less boss has more than enough on her hands. Word is the bunfight in which she was embroiled during the 60 Minutes Beirut debacle and the mauling her chairman Peter Costello copped at the AGM last year when questions were raised about his $425,000 chairman's fee (plus the fact Kramer was head of the Nine board remuneration committee) meant when she sat down to "restructure her board portfolio" the Nine gig was considered the one likely to cause more pain than gain (and that's saying something, given she's on the Woolies board...).
Either way, it's not the best look for Chairman Costello. In one fell swoop he has gone and lost a third of his board. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: to lose one company director in a single day is a misfortune, to lose two is carelessness.
