Life is getting tougher in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp kingdom, just ask his former Foxtel boss Peter Tonagh.
The media had been talking up the heavyweight bout between Tonagh and Fox Sports chief executive, Patrick Delany, to decide who gets the top job when the two businesses soon merge.
![Game of Thrones, the most pirated show in the world.](http://web.archive.org./web/20180203100235im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/h/0/r/c/9/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.p4yz4h.png/1517407642175.jpg)
Let’s get real, the job was only ever going to go to the sports guy.
Sports content is the only real business that Foxtel will have left in a world of Apple and Netflix - not even Foxtel's much coveted Game of Thrones can hide that fact.
![Treasury Wine chief executive Mike Clarke.](http://web.archive.org./web/20180203100235im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/x/h/h/y/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.p4yz4h.png/1517407642175.jpg)
So you have to feel sorry for Tonagh who didn’t even get to celebrate his second anniversary in the job.
At the start of 2016 he was in the plum role of News Corp Australia chief executive - and probably should have stayed there if he had any choice in the matter.
In 2014 he was parachuted in as the interim CEO role at Realestate.com.au - the jewel in News Corp’s crown.
He was the go-to guy.
![Illustration: John Shakespeare](http://web.archive.org./web/20180203100235im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/h/0/r/i/y/d/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.p4yz4h.png/1517439469273.jpg)
And it looks like Tonagh will be walking out the door with little more than the kind words of his bosses who thanked him for his service "during years of great change and challenge in the marketplace".
The challenge included Foxtel announcing a fall in subscription numbers last year as streaming services gained a head of steam.
And it is pretty safe to assume that the new subscription numbers, when they are announced, will not show any benefit of his big marketing revamp in June last year. It was designed to lift Foxtel's market penetration despite the growing competition.
“The relaunch is about Foxtel for everyone, rather than Foxtel for the few,” Tonagh told MediaWeek at the time.
“We are doing that by introducing a new brand mark, marking a shift away from the traditional way that people have viewed Foxtel. Our previous logo was dark orange, perhaps very aggressive, big capital letters which could have been seen as quite loud and exclusive.
“What we have now we feel is much warmer and more welcoming and more inclusive."
Gee, we don’t know how that could have failed.
Wined up
Treasury Wine Boss, Michael Clarke, delivered another vintage crop of earnings on Wednesday, but did warn investors that there will be a few “bumps in the road” as it tears up its distribution network in the US.
The fact that Clarke and his crew were forced to deliver the interim results two weeks earlier than planned was evidence enough of the bumps ahead.
Clarke admitted on the conference call that there had been a leak of its plans in the US which triggered an all-nighter to bring the latest results to market by Wednesday morning.
But it's a much better surprise than what the US business has traditionally delivered.
In 2013, Clarke’s predecessor, David Dearie, got popped after a surprise $160 million write-off linked to the US wine business, which included $35 million of unwanted plonk that went down the drain.
In 2008, the US wine business also played a prominent role in the demise of Foster’s chief executive, Trevor O’Hoy.
TWE was spun off from Foster’s in 2010.
Fashion victim
Specialty Fashion Group did not make its name - or lose its fortunes - by slavishly following the fashion pack.
So is it any wonder that it waited for media reports to surface before confirming that Gary Perlstein - its chief executive, and a major shareholder - was a part of a consortium looking to buy the business. Oops.
It is not a good look for someone closely involved in the business - and looking after investor interests as a board member - to be a potential suitor.
It cost former Alinta boss, Bob Browning, his job when he tried that trick.
Specialty Fashion confirmed to the ASX that it wasn’t a great look for the group behind retail names like Rivers and Katies.
It said Perlstein has been excluded from the group assessing bid proposals.
As for his day job, the company said the following in its belated response to the press reports: “Mr Perlstein is currently on leave and will step down as chief executive officer and managing director on 15 February 2018.
“The group will keep shareholders fully informed in accordance with its continuous disclosure obligations.”
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