Shares in ARN Media Ltd (ASX: A1N) are trading lower on Monday after the company said former employee, shock jock Kyle Sandilands, had lodged a legal claim against the company.
Sandilands, half of the long-running The Kyle and Jackie O Show, has been off air since a falling out with co-host Jacqueline Henderson on February 20.
ARN Media said earlier this month that Henderson later gave notice that she "cannot continue to work with Mr Kyle Sandilands."
At the time, ARN Media said it had terminated its agreement with Henderson, while offering her the possibility of another show on the network.
ARN also said on March 3 it had written to Sandilands, saying "that it considers that Mr Sandilands' behaviour during the show on 20 February 2026 is an act of serious misconduct which is in breach of ARN's services agreement with Quasar Media, under which Mr Sandilands presents The Kyle and Jackie O Show".
Sandilands was given 14 days "to remedy this breach".
Image source: Getty Images
Contract terminated
ARN said last week that it had now issued a notice of termination of contract to Sandilands and his company, Quasar Media, and as a result, The Kyle and Jackie O Show will no longer be presented.
Sandilands said at the time that he didn't accept the termination and would take ARN to court.
Sandilands hits back
On Monday, ARN confirmed that a legal claim against it had been lodged.
As the company said:
The proceedings have been filed in the Federal Court against ARN and Commonwealth Broadcasting Corporation Pty Ltd (CBC), a subsidiary of ARN which is the licence holder for KIIS 1065 Sydney and contracted with Mr Sandilands and his services company. Unsealed copies of Court documents in respect of the proceedings were served on CBC on 20 March 2026 after market close. In summary, the applicants claim the termination of Mr Sandilands' contract was invalid on the basis they allege that there was no act of serious misconduct or breach of contract, and that the termination was unconscionable under the Australian Consumer Law. The applicants seek an order for specific performance of two contracts, payment of whatever amounts are due and payable under the contracts at the time of judgment, and damages.
ARN said it disputed the claims and intended to defend the proceedings.
Sandilands' contract is worth $100 million and was due to run for 10 years until 2034.
His contract alone is not far off the entire worth of ARN, which was valued at $103.3 million at the close of trade on Friday.
ARN shares were trading 4.5% lower on Monday at 31.5 cents.
