Terminating the Kyle and Jackie O Show has had an immediate multimillion-dollar return for ARN Media.

Investors quickly jumped on news that the controversial radio show was going to be axed, sending the share price soaring nearly 6 per cent.

Before that, ARN shares had been in decline for the past year, falling 43 per cent.

The early boost added more than $6 million dollars to the value of ARN Media.

By close of trade on Wednesday, the share price had settled at a 4.35 per cent gain.

Jackie “Jackie O” Henderson quit her lucrative radio show on Tuesday night, after an on-air spat with divisive co-host Kyle Sandilands.

The pair was in the second year of a 10-year, $200 million contract. Henderson’s deal was scrapped when she told KIIS FM’s parent company ARN she could not keep working with Sandilands.

Sandilands, who has been embroiled scandals throughout his contentious career, was hit with a breach notice for “serious misconduct”. He has been taken off air for two weeks.

It comes amid a troubled bid to nationalise the Sydney-based show and take a bite of the larger Melbourne radio market.

The Kyle and Jackie O Show was often in hot water for its content and was investigated and slammed for its “vulgar and deeply offensive” segments by the media regulator in October.

“Even after previous breaches … the program continues to broadcast content that is unacceptable to the community,” Australian Communications and Media Authority chair Nerida O’Loughlin said.

“ARN, as the licensee of these stations, appears unwilling or unable to rein in these presenters.”

The indecent content that went to air between August and December 2024 included:

• Two episodes of a guessing game where audio clips of male and female staff members urinating were aired, with hosts guessing which audio belonged to which staff member. Both episodes included comments about the genitals of participants, and in the female staff member episode, graphic comments about menstruation and oral sex;
• A game where a contestant provided an offensive description of a sexual position;
• A segment that included lewd discussions about masturbation and pornography websites.

Meanwhile, an interview Henderson gave in 2025 has resurfaced, amid speculation that she engineered her exit from the show.

Asked if she would walk away from her 10-year contract if things weren’t right, she said: “ Yes, I would. I think the older you get … It’s important that you are staying true to yourself and that you enjoy what you do and it feels authentic.”

“I don’t ever wanna feel bound by this contract where I’m driven by money,” she said.

“I’ve never been driven by money in my career, and I always want to stay true to that. So if it doesn’t feel right at any stage, I would be prepared to walk away from that.”

The recent on-air friction with Sandilands began after he berated berating Henderson during a live broadcast on February 20, criticising her after she looked into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s horoscope.

“You’re off with the fairies … every segment, every time you’ve spoken, you don’t even know what’s going on,” Sandilands said in his rant.

“You’re not doing the rest of the job and everyone in this building has mentioned it to me.”

KIIS’s regular afternoon host Ken “Smallzy” Small filled in for the missing duo on Wednesday morning. He read a statement on-air addressing the split, so listeners could “officially hear it from us”.

“Kyle has been given 14 days to remedy a serious breach of contract in respect of the show … if that does not happen, that contract will be terminated,” he said.

Brooklyn Ross, who worked on the show for 12 years, addressed the show’s axing on air.

“I’m obviously great friends with Jackie and Kyle … it was such a great ride, so that’s what I’ll always remember,” he said.

Albanese with Sandilands at the radio host’s star-studded wedding. Photo: X/Geoff Field

In a statement to the ASX, ARN said Sandilands had two weeks to remedy his breach, adding it would sack him entirely if he did not.

NSW Premier Chris Minns, who attended Sandilands’s 2023 wedding – along with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – expressed shock about the break-up.

“I’m surprised about it,” he told ABC Radio Sydney.

“I’ve known Kyle for many, many years … it’s sad that these shows wind up.”

-with AAP