Discovery Restructures European Operations
3:56 AM PDT 9/3/2020 by Georg Szalai
Kasia Kieli, Discovery's president and managing director, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The company says the "streamlining" is designed to create "a leaner operating model" and "accelerate digital transformation by driving efficiencies and enabling new investments."
Discovery on Thursday unveiled a streamlining of its operations in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region to "accelerate digital transformation by driving efficiencies and enabling new investments."
The company said that the reorganization, announced by Kasia Kieli, president and managing director of EMEA, "aligns several of its operating markets in EMEA to improve strategic focus and enable further investment in its direct-to-consumer businesses."
Among the changes, Piotr Korycki, the CEO of Polish TV giant TVN, will leave the company. Discovery didn't detail how many other employees would be cut as part of the realignment or its financial impact.
"We are working systematically to rationalize our operation and find synergies and efficiencies across our EMEA business," said Kieli. "We have come a long way over the years, and with this restructuring we have defined a clear path towards a leaner operating model, where we utilize the best competence across markets. By combining knowhow and leveraging our scale, we will be able to streamline decision making and operate with greater speed and focus towards future business opportunities."
In the new organizational structure, James Gibbons’ portfolio is realigned to add the Nordic markets to the U.K., making him general manager U.K. & Nordics. The Nordic markets will be unified under the leadership of Nicklas Norrby who has been in charge of the Swedish business since 2019 and will now report directly to Gibbons.
The Benelux region will be combined with Germany under the leadership of general manager Germany & Benelux Susanne Aigner, while Spain and France will be unified under the leadership of general manager Iberia & France Antonio Ruiz.
Meanwhile, Jamie Cooke, senior vp, chief of staff EMEA, will take on a new combined role for Russia, Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, as well as pay TV.
Kieli also named Leah Hooper senior vp direct-to-consumer growth & strategy international, while she will take a leadership role at Poland's TVN herself.
