OpinionMay 27, 2026 — 4:25pmOne of Australia’s most successful and ferocious lawyers, Bruce McWilliam, has made a career out of working for or with the country’s billionaires, including Kerry Stokes, Kerry Packer and Rupert Murdoch.In a bizarre twist, he has now borrowed from the country’s richest person, Stokes’ fellow Perth billionaire Gina Rinehart, to fund the purchase of a near-10 per cent stake in Southern Cross Media – the company that merged with the Stokes-controlled Seven West Media.The news has delivered a conspiracy theorist’s smorgasbord.Plenty of spectators are pondering why Gina Rinehart is involved in this deal.Getty ImagesMcWilliam wasn’t in the mood on Wednesday to answer questions on how it came to pass that Rinehart was funding his purchase of Southern Cross shares.And there were plenty of spectators pondering why she was involved in this deal. If she had wanted to dip her toe into another media company, she would have bought the shares in her own name.Rinehart’s people were giving nothing away on Wednesday either, other than “no comment”.The mining magnate has dabbled in media shares over the years, including Network 10 and Fairfax Media, but that was a decade ago.Until two years ago, McWilliam was the commercial director at Seven West Media and Stokes’ right-hand man. Since he started buying stock, there has been plenty of speculation that he is hoping to take a board seat at Southern Cross and even become a contender for chairman down the track.Another Australian rich-lister and fellow Southern Cross shareholder, billionaire investor Alex Waislitz, has backed McWilliam for a board position.Meanwhile, McWilliam has been quoted as saying his investment in Southern Cross was motivated by his view that the shares represented good value.Since the Seven West merger with Southern Cross, there has been a non-stop tussle over executive control of the combined radio/television/publishing group in a media industry version of Game of Thrones.Bruce McWilliam is staying mum on his share financing deal with Gina Rinehart. Janie BarrettIn the immediate aftermath of the deal, Seven West boss Jeff Howard took the helm but was abruptly terminated by the chairman of the merged entity and replaced on an interim basis by the former head of Southern Cross, John Kelly.Stokes, who had been the chairman of Seven West, had already agreed to relinquish that role as part of the merger, to be replaced by Heith Mackay-Cruise.But Mackay-Cruise had little time to bask in the glory of his role at the top of the merged group, falling victim to a board coup only a couple of months later.He will be replaced as chairman by former Seven West director Teresa Dyson, while Rohan Lund, the former head of Yahoo!7 and chief operating officer of Seven West Media, has been anointed the new boss of Southern Cross Media.So the management and board now seem to be dominated by the Seven West faction – which appears logical, given Stokes is the largest shareholder with a 20 per cent stake.Rinehart and Stokes are the apex predators in the small West Australian market and have had their relationship ups and downs, but are seen as having aligned interests across their business views. More recently, they have also both been strong supporters of disgraced former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith.Southern Cross’s ownership of The West Australian newspaper and the Seven Network allows Stokes a disproportionate influence in that state.McWilliam’s net wealth has been the subject of speculation for years, given his successful penchant for investing in the high-end Sydney residential market.Any history of his investment in shares is harder to find, as it would only become disclosable and public if it reached 5 per cent of a listed company.With McWilliam and Rinehart staying mum on their share financing alliance, the chattering class is having a field day.The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon.More:Gina RinehartOpinionSouthern Cross MediaBruce McWilliamBillionairesKerry StokesFor subscribersFrom our partners