Former America's Cup-winning skipper John Bertrand and ex-AFL club chief executives Gary Pert and Michael Nettlefold have dramatically been forced to quit the board of radio station SEN.
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The trio and another board member, Peter Quattro, were all moved to resign by the company's major shareholders.
The company told the stock exchange the quartet chose to quit at a board meeting on Wednesday in order to "resolve this change of priorities" by a number of the major shareholders.
It is expected the shareholders will seek to negotiate a sale, in part or in full, of the company Pacific Star Network, which owns sports radio station SEN, Classic Rock radio and publishes magazines including titles like Inside Football and Frankie.
It is understood the quartet of shareholders who were forced to resign did not see the move coming by the shareholders and were caught by surprise by the decision to redirect the company.
The new chairman is Craig Coleman, who is also chairman of Viburnum Funds, a private equity firm that owns almost 20 per cent of Pacific Star Network.
Pert, who had been on the SEN board for eight years, had been planning to move into an executive role with SEN soon, having left Collingwood as CEO earlier this year. He had recruited Nettlefold to the board only months ago.
Several former Collingwood staff, including Pert's long-term personal assistant from Collingwood, had already moved to new jobs at the company while at least one other was preparing to move there. His son also works at the station.
Fairfax journalist Michael Gleeson appears on SEN radio twice a week.
