Kyle Sandilands has lawyered up ahead of a landmark $88million legal fight against his former employer ARN, after the radio network terminated his contract last Wednesday.
The ex-host of the KIIS FM Kyle & Jackie O show has reportedly filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against his former employers in the Federal Court.
Backed by a prominent legal team, 54-year-old Sandilands claims that ARN deliberately conspired to sabotage his $100million, 10-year contract in a calculated attempt to exit the costly agreement after just over 14 months.
Sandilands’ legal team is led by the ‘ferocious’ Kevin Lynch, a partner at Johnson Winter Slattery, according to The Australian.
Over the past two weeks, Lynch has carefully examined every detail of the host’s agreement and strategised a comprehensive attack on ARN.
He filed the necessary papers on Friday.
Kyle Sandilands (pictured) has lawyered up ahead of a landmark $88million legal fight against his former employer ARN, after the radio network terminated his contract last Wednesday
Sandilands is seeking his contract to be honoured in full.
Meanwhile, ARN’s newly appointed CEO Michael Stephenson is working hard to prevent the legal dispute from escalating by trying to persuade Sandilands’ former co-host, Jackie ‘O’ Henderson, to return to KIIS FM with a solo show.
However, ARN is hoping to bring back Henderson at a much lower rate with a new program, after the network also terminated her $100million, decade-long deal last month.
The Australian reports that Henderson is not enthusiastic about that offer, while sources close to the former co-hosts indicate that she intends to watch how Sandilands’ legal offensive unfolds.
Sandilands may not be struggling financially with an estimated $100million business empire, but the termination of his contract at ARN has certainly hit his back pocket.
The end of the Kyle & Jackie O show was announced last Wednesday when Sandilands released a statement at 7am announcing that KIIS’ parent company, ARN, had terminated his 10-year, $100million contract.
It comes as rumours that Sandilands is planning to buy ARN after being sacked continue to gain traction.
After the shock jock’s former boss Craig Bruce first made the claim that Sandilands is eyeing off purchasing the radio network last week, industry sources now say that it’s increasingly becoming a possibility.
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Sandilands’ legal team is led by the ‘ferocious’ Kevin Lynch (pictured), a partner at Johnson Winter Slattery
Jackie ‘O’ Henderson intends to watch how Sandilands’ legal offensive unfolds before making any moves
A source told news.com.au that while buying up ARN in full would cost in the realm of $100million, Sandilands could purchase a controlling stake for $51million.
‘The short answer is the network is already pretty cheap,’ the source said.
‘It just depends on the level of ownership that Kyle wants. You could become a majority shareholder for $51million, but I think he just wants to be a stakeholder,’ they continued.
‘He just wants to have a say on how it is run and he has been on radio for so long that he’s very confident on how a radio station should be run or shouldn’t be run.’
In an explosive statement obtained by Daily Mail on Wednesday morning, Sandilands admitted he doesn’t ‘accept’ the fate of his role at the network following the termination of his contract.
He also confirmed the matter will now be in the hands of his lawyers.
‘ARN has just announced they’ve terminated my contract,’ he said.
‘I don’t accept it.’
Sandilands continued: ‘My lawyers told them last week this would be invalid. And guess what? It is.’
ARN is hoping to bring back Jackie O at a much lower rate with a new program, after the network also terminated her $100million, decade-long deal last month
Just an hour after Kyle’s bombshell statement, news.com.au reported that ARN chief executive Michael Stephenson sent an email to staff announcing that The Kyle & Jackie O Show had been axed.
‘This morning, ARN announced that it has issued a notice of termination of contract with Kyle and Quasar Media,’ the email read.
‘As a result, ARN will no longer present the Kyle and Jackie O Show.’
It was also revealed that Mike E would continue to helm the breakfast music show.
ARN announced last month that Henderson’s $100million contract had been terminated after she told executives she ‘cannot continue to work with Mr Kyle Sandilands’ following his harsh on-air comments that left her in tears.
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