ProSiebenSat.1 reorganizing Executive Board and returning to main focus on entertainment Chief Financial Officer Rainer Beaujean additionally assumes office as Chairman of the Executive Board
Chief Executive Officer Max Conze to step down with immediate effect
Wolfgang Link and Christine Scheffler appointed to Executive Board
Greater focus on entertainment business
Unterfoehring, March 26, 2020. ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE is reorganizing its Executive Board and refocusing more strongly on entertainment. Chief Financial Officer Rainer Beaujean has additionally assumed the office of Chairman of the Executive Board ( Vorstandssprecher ). Chief Executive Officer Max Conze is leaving the Company with immediate effect. New appointees to the Executive Board are Wolfgang Link and Christine Scheffler. Wolfgang Link heads the Entertainment segment and Christine Scheffler continues to be in charge of Human Resources. This was resolved by the Supervisory Board on Thursday evening.
Accompanying the reshuffle of the Executive Board is a change in relation to the strategic focus. ProSiebenSat.1 Group is returning the primary focus of its operating business to the entertainment sector in the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). Here, the main emphasis is on local and live formats, also in close cooperation with Red Arrow Studios and Studio71. The Group's digital reach is to be further extended, including via the streaming platform Joyn. NuCom remains an important pillar of the Group in synergistic terms. Existing investments that benefit from advertising on the entertainment platforms will continue to be developed to generate value and sold in due course under an active portfolio policy.
Dr. Werner Brandt, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE: The Supervisory Board would like to thank Max Conze for his service. He has navigated the Company through a difficult period with resolution and determination. I have full confidence in the new Executive Board team. In Rainer Beaujean, a manager with analytical and implementation prowess, is assuming the chairmanship of the Executive Board. His 20 years of board experience will be of great benefit to the Company, particularly at this critical time. In Wolfgang Link and Christine Scheffler, we have also two highly capable new appointees on the Executive Board whose portfolios are key to the future success of ProSiebenSat.1.
Rainer Beaujean, Chairman of the Executive Board of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE: This Company has far greater potential than is currently credited to it from outside. Under the leadership of the new Executive Board team, we will now return to focusing more strongly on our core segment of entertainment and on sustainably profitable business. While the corona pandemic poses a huge challenge for us in the weeks and months ahead, I firmly believe that we will emerge from this crisis all the stronger and return to generating shareholder value.
Rainer Beaujean (51) has been Chief Financial Officer of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE since July 2019. He joined ProSiebenSat.1 from stock exchange-listed packaging manufacturer Gerresheimer AG, where he was Chief Financial Officer and also Speaker of the Management Board from 2012. Prior to that, he was a member of the executive boards of the Elster Group, Demag Cranes and T-Online. Rainer Beaujean gained his initial media experience as member and subsequently Chairman of the Management Board of Internet provider T-Online.
Wolfgang Link (52) is considered one of the most prominent and creative television producers in Germany. He has been Co-CEO of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group's Entertainment segment since last year. For more than six years prior to that, he was Chairman of the Management Board of ProSiebenSat.1 TV Deutschland GmbH and hence in charge of all of the Group's German TV stations. He joined the Group in 2009 as entertainment director of SAT.1, where he introduced formats such as The Voice of Germany . Earlier posts included Grundy Light Entertainment and Theatro Centro in the city of Oberhausen.
Christine Scheffler (51) has been Chief HR Officer of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group since early 2019. She previously occupied the same position for over two years at the French outsourcing company webhelp Group. Christine Scheffler began her career with the Bertelsmann Group in 1995. Her most recent position there was as chief human resources officer on the Board of subsidiary Arvato.
ProSiebenSat.1 Group
ProSiebenSat.1 combines leading entertainment brands with a successful production business and a strongly growing commerce portfolio and is thus one of the most diversified media companies in Europe. We want to offer great entertainment - whenever, wherever and on any device. We can address over 45 million TV households in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with our 15 free and pay TV channels. At the same time, we reach around 36 million unique users every month with online offerings marketed by ProSiebenSat.1. Successful formats like The Masked Singer , Germany's next Topmodel , and Beat the Channel as well as top-notch stars like Heidi Klum, or Dwayne Johnson belong to our family. Shows like Bosch , Married at First Sight , or Queen of Drags are created within our production and distribution business Red Arrow Studios. Our global digital studio Studio71 achieves over 9.9 billion monthly video views and operates more than 1,400 web channels. Our NuCom Group is a rapidly growing e-commerce player with leading portfolio companies that offer online price comparison, matchmaking, experiences as well as beauty & lifestyle. ProSiebenSat.1 are more than 7,000 passionate creators that love to entertain and delight our viewers and consumers each day.
