Nine Entertainment boss Mike Sneesby has announced he will leave the media company within weeks.

Sneesby’s departure – which comes after a “challenging” year for Nine – was confirmed in a statement to the ASX on Thursday morning.

“Following the successful completion of the Olympics and the Paralympics, Mr Sneesby and the board consider now is the right time for a transition of leadership to take Nine into the next phase of its strategic transformation,” it said.

Chief finance and strategy officer Matt Stanton will be acting chief executive.

Nine owns some of Australia’s biggest media platforms including Channel Nine, streaming service Stan, talkback radio stations 2GB and 3AW, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Australian Financial Review.

Sneesby’s departure comes less than a month after Nine revealed its profits for the past financial year had fallen almost a third to $134.9 million.

“I want to be completely open about the circumstances surrounding my departure. To give some context, this year has been one of the most challenging in my career – one where our resilience has been tested,” Sneesby, who has led Nine for 3½ years, told staff in an email.

“Despite the intensity of the scrutiny, my focus has not wavered from achieving the best outcomes for our people and for Nine.”

He said, after 10 years at Nine and being chief executive of the company’s streaming service Stan before that, it was time to step down.

Sneesby came under fire from staff in July when he was snapped carrying the Olympic torch on a family holiday in Paris as journalists prepared to walk out in an unprecedented five-day strike over stalled pay negotiations.

Under Sneesby’s leadership, Nine paid a reported $305 million for the broadcast rights to five Olympic Games, including Paris.

In reporting its full-year results last month, Nine said its Games coverage reached an unprecedented national daily average audience of almost 10 million people.

Games-related advertising and subscription revenue was expected to total more than $160 million, and the company said it expected the venture to break even.

“In a year of challenging economic and advertising market conditions, there were some clear positives in this result,” Sneesby said at the time.

The journalists’ strike followed a controversy in May over Nine’s handling of historical complaints made against former senior news boss Darren Wick.

Sneesby’s exit also follows the resignation in June of long-time chair Peter Costello, following an altercation with a journalist at Canberra airport.

Nine chair Catherine West thanked Sneesby for his “significant contribution to Nine over more than a decade”.

“As chief executive officer, his achievements include guiding the company out of the challenging Covid-19 pandemic, securing the rights to the Olympic Games through to 2032 and progressing the strategic and cultural transformation of Nine,” she said.

Sneesby’s last day at Nine will be September 30.