GD appointed to board of PBL

[Shlonghaul]

Talk about dogs sniffing each others bums!!! :E


PBL appoints Dixon and Lowy Jnr to board
Wednesday May 31 18:26 AEST
Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd has added to its top-level firepower with Qantas boss Geoff Dixon and Westfield deputy chairman David Lowy joining the gaming and media group's board.

PBL executive chairman James Packer has reciprocated his March 2004 appointment to the Qantas board as he continues to boost his senior team following the Boxing Day death of his father Kerry Packer.

Mr Packer said Mr Dixon and Mr Lowy had "consented to their appointment" as directors of the PBL board.

"Both gentleman have extensive business experience and will add further strength to the board," Mr Packer said in a statement.




The appointments come as Nine Network owner PBL moves to boost its casino business in Macau in a joint venture with Hong Kong businessman Lawrence Ho's Melco International Ltd.

Mr Dixon and Mr Lowy join two other new members of PBL's board, former Patrick Corp boss Chris Corrigan and UBS chairman Chris Mackay, who were both appointed as non-executive directors in March.

Mr Dixon's appointment follows his resignation from the board of construction group Leighton Holdings Ltd after seven years as a director.

The Qantas chief executive boasts nine years' experience in media, having worked in government public relations, serving in several overseas posts.

Prior to his career in the airline industry, Mr Dixon worked for an arm of the Australian Government Overseas Service in Australia and on postings to Australian Missions in The Hague, New York and San Francisco.

Mr Lowy is a principal of LFG Holdings and is deputy chairman, non-executive, of shopping centre group Westfield Holdings.

The 52-year-old joined Westfield in 1977 and became managing director in 1987, a position he held until June 2000.

He is the son of Westfield co-founder and chairman Frank Lowy.

Mr Packer's board now reads like a who's who of Australian business, after he appointed former Optus boss Chris Anderson as deputy chairman in January to replace his late father.

Also at the helm is PBL's chief executive officer and managing director, and former Fairfax newspaper editor, John Alexander and executive director Samuel Chisholm.

PBL last week confirmed that a partial float of its casino joint venture was being considered.

Market rumours suggest PBL and Melco plan to float a 20 per cent stake on the US Nasdaq index before the end of the year.


©AAP 2006

[HotDog]

Talk about dogs sniffing each others bums!!!

Sorry shlongpuller, I see nothing wrong in the appointment to PBL's board of Dixon and Lowy Jnr. That's normal business practice, do you think you would qualify for a PBL directorship?:confused:

[Shlonghaul]

Rev....... I was referring to the boys looking after each other in the way of "You scratch my back and I'll scratch your's" or in this case dog's sniffing each other. Most of us would qualify for a directorship how hard is it to say "Pass the chardonnay". Sorry if it offended your dog you smart :mad:

Anymore tea vicar? :E

[Shitsu_Tonka]

I am with Shlonghaul.

Geoff probably needs the money.

[HotDog]

Shlong,
[QUOTE][Most of us would qualify for a directorship how hard is it to say "Pass the chardonnay". Sorry if it offended your dog you smart
/QUOTE]

Wrong! If you and I would qualify, I would not have spent 18,000+ hours of long haul and you wouldn't be serving the Chardonnay as a flight attendant.

[missy]

GD gets appointed to the PBL board, and the share price went down :(

[Mr McGoo]

Yep, Qantas Directors are way smarter than me. I wouldn't have had the brains to:
Buy the long range A330 and configure it for domestic ops,
Buy the short range A330 and configure it for international ops,
Put the A330 sim in Melbourne when most crew are based in SYD,
Spend millions installing double aerobridges for the A330 at domestic terminals but cut staff numbers so that they are never used.
Yep, absolute genius's they are.

[YesTAM]

So when does QF start direct flights to Macau, like Sapporo?

[The_Cutest_of_Borg]

Mr McGoo has it in one...despite his coke bottle specs!

You can add....

*Train enough QF pilots for a 14 aircraft A330 fleet then give four of those aircraft to another airline, then hire MORE pilots to fly them whilst leaving already trained pilots twiddling their thumbs for two years.

Great cost saver that !:ugh:

[Eagleman]

I would have thought that given the constant gloom that spills from Geoff's mouth, that he should be totally focused on the company of which he is the CEO.

I doubt that he has the intellectual capacity to run QF and be a director of PBL.

[Elroy Jettson]

Exactly Eagleman. Since when did running QF become a part time position, allowing you enough time to give the PBL job the time and attention that the PBL shareholders should rightly expect from its board members, for the money they pay? Which one will be priority? Show the position the respect it deserves and pay your full attention to it, (either one, pick one, you are not indespensible), instead of swanning around as a board junkie, feathering your own nest ready for your impending jump from QF. Sure its great to have PBL in your pocket, for all the free good news propaganda they can pump out, but if the company was performing well, you would be getting that from all the networks anyway.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/images/wallstreet20.JPG
The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed -- for lack of a better word -- is good.
Greed is right.
Greed works.
Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.
Greed, in all of its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind.
And greed -- you mark my words -- will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.
Thank you very much.
No, thank you Gordon, and thanks Geoff.
6.25 not enough to give something your full attention? What will do it? Another 60% payrise maybe? :yuk:

[DickyPearse]

Agree with Elroy and Eagleman - GD is a CEO - CEOs should be 100% focussed on the company that employs them. To do a board position justice, you probably need to invest one day a week to board matters, so I'll be looking for a 20% rebate on GD's salary in the next Qantas remuneration report.

[Annulus Filler]

It wouldn't surprise me if the CEO GD is jumping ship. Share price dropping to below $3.20. Alot to answer for.

[Jetsbest]

Didn't Geoff say in the fin review a month ago, while uttering an erroneous sweeping generalisation in an attempt to discredit his own pilot employees, that 'some of them even have second jobs'?. I guess 6.5M and another second (or is it third?) job is ok though.

No wonder I have no faith in the credibility of any of the pronouncements made by QF management. That view might change if 'they' could start leading by example, telling me the truth without spin, getting serious about letting the staff help, and stop transferring costs from one part of the group to another for what appears to be more about industrial leverage and expediency than 'staff engagement'.

[The_Cutest_of_Borg]

:D Bravo JB :D

[Elroy Jettson]

I'll second that JB, take a bow. :D

[HotDog]

Didn't Geoff say in the fin review a month ago, while uttering an erroneous sweeping generalisation in an attempt to discredit his own pilot employees, that 'some of them even have second jobs'?. I guess 6.5M and another second (or is it third?) job is ok though.

I have no axe to grind either way so this is purely an observation but when you get into the director level, it is not at all unusual to hold several directorships. Sitting on a particular board is not like working two jobs. I am also of the opinion that the pastime of cutting down tall poppies only blunts your own scythe.:(

[Elroy Jettson]

Would be a fair cop if these guys were tall poppies Hotdog, but that is only true in their own eyes, (and their secrataries:E ). I think the share holders of the other companies have every right to expect these guys to put a bit of work into their directorship. After all, it is their money.

I know a few sayings too.

"Do as I say, not as I do!"

And

"True leaders lead by example"

And

"Dont dip your pen in the company ink!" :}

I know, low blow, I will see myself out...:oh: :ok:

[B A Lert]

GD is not only the CEO of one of the world's leading airlines but he also non-executive director of two large Oz comapnies: Leightons and now PBL. How can he do justice to his duties as CEO of Qantas in what is probably its darkest days since WW2? Does the man ever sleep or relax or does he just take the money and not care?

[lowerlobe]

Quote from the reverend....

Sorry shlongpuller, I see nothing wrong in the appointment to PBL's board of Dixon and Lowy Jnr. That's normal business practice, do you think you would qualify for a PBL directorship?

You can talk down your own profession but Darth started out as a scribe so I don't believe that he is in some elite section of the community only his pay packet is

[Jetsbest]

My point exactly! The benevolent leader Mr Dixon, and others 'upstairs', have repeatedly and disingenuously represented the pilots and other employees contributing to the remarkable profitability of his organisation as 'tall poppies' deserving of being cut down. My view is that he continues to blunt his own scythe with such tactics.

I also thought CEOs obligations were a full time job, and are very different to just sitting on a couple of boards. So how can a CEO possibly have the time, if the job is so busy and onerous (that's why the money's so good isn't it?) to take on two extra directorships? Now that is like working two jobs! If he can do it all well, fine. But the argument cannot continue to be used as a plank in active or selective disinformation against employees.

Leadership, truth, honesty and transparency; these things will get 'the team' on side. I wait.

ps thanks Elroy & Borg. Likewise, no offence intended toward HotDog; accurate points made.

[HotDog]

I say again, I have no axe to grind but a lot of CEOs are invited to serve on several boards and that is a fact. Even some popular ones have more than one directorship.

[Lagrange]

Qantas is truly at the crossroads. GD has been spreading the gloom story for years and rightly so. The company does not generate sufficent profits to meet the cost of capital. He has one option and one option only. He has to reduce the costs within the company. The Sustainable Future program was, and remains, all smoke and mirrors. Real sustained costs have not been extracted from the company. A properly audited review of the program would expose double dipping and uncompleted tasks. Unless the shareholders, financial analysts and the media start to ask serious questions the incompetent and questionable shareholder reporting and finanacial practices will continue, and this will impact the employment of over 30,000 Australians!

It is normal for senior executives to hold extenal board appointment. However, responsible CEO's put their company first in times of distress. This GD's fatal flaw.

Could it be that James has been reappointed to the Board to hold GD's hand. Geoff is a great goodtimes leader, he is great and convincing the Government that Pacific competition should be stiffled.

He may have curtailed the external competition, but DJ International and the Hong Kong financed International low cost carrier being put together in Sydney at the moment will operate very competitively against QF and JQI. And they will seriously erode the yield base putting significant pressure on QF in the coming months.

GD is not the man for the future!

The next CEO is not within the QF senior ranks. Don't be surprised if James Strong moves to Chairman within six months and someone who James is closely associated with move into QCA9. The CFO will also depart within the year.

That folks is the game plan and Egon Zinder are at work.

[speedbirdhouse]

I assume you mean "Egon Zehnder".

Google it.

Lets hope Qantas survives darth's tenure.

[YesTAM]

Directors Yes, CEO's very definately no. Board appointments are supposed to reflect the interests of shareholders. I fail to understand why Mr. Packers directorship is in the interests of QF shareholders. Mr. Strong's appointment is more easily understandable.

[qcc2]

Gd resigned from the leighton board.:ok:
Lagrange comments "The Sustainable Future program was, and remains, all smoke and mirrors. Real sustained costs have not been extracted from the company". i can only say you havent been employed with QF in recent times. talk about cost cutting? every division can write a novel about it. some are more effective then others.

[Ken Nuff]

AIPA you must demand the resignation of the Chief Executive.

He is ruining our company

Unite with the other unions

Saving the company from the incompetent executives on EXCO must be your priority

Save our jobs