THE NEWS WRAP: Seven West announces new CEO as KKR sells its stock

Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media has announced Tim Worner will replace Don Voelte as its chief executive, while private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has announced it is selling its 12% stake in the media giant.

“When I asked Don [Voelte] to accept the responsibility [of chief executive], it was on the basis that he would recommend when he thought he had delivered what he could deliver to the team, and we’ve arrived at that point,” Stokes said.

“Our decision to sell our shareholding is based on a broad range of parameters on which we based our initial investment and how we sought returns for our investors. We know Seven West Media is a great company; its future is strong and we know it has a well-credentialed board and management,” said KKR local head Justin Reizes.

Apple defends tax minimisation strategies

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has denied the tech giant uses offshore holding companies in Ireland and the Caribbean to minimise the amount of tax it pays in the United States to a US Senate hearing.

“It is completely outrageous that Apple has not only dodged full payment of US taxes, but it has managed to evade paying taxes around the world through its convoluted and pernicious strategies,” Republican Senator John McCain.

“The way I look at it is that Apple pays 30.5 per cent of its profits in taxes in the United States… We do have a low tax rate outside the United States but this tax rate is for products we sell outside the United States,” Cook said.

“We don’t depend on tax gimmicks. We don’t move intellectual property offshore and use it to sell our products back to the United States to avoid taxes… We don’t stash money on some Caribbean island.”

Door-to-door sales tactics cost AGL nearly $1.5 million

A lawsuit by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in the Federal Court in Melbourne has resulted in utility giant AGL being fined $1.48 million fine in Victoria and a further $70,000 in South Australia over its door-to-door sales tactics.

The lawsuit was largely the result of a CPM Australia contractor who sold gas and electricity for the firm in Coburg making false statements to customers about prices while claiming he was not selling anything.

AGL has since stopped using doorknocking as a sales tactic, describing it as a “risky sales technique”.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 0.35% to 15,388.27. The Aussie dollar is steady at US98.06 cents.