CEO Guillaume de Posch to Leave ProSiebenSat.1 Group/Andreas Bartl Joins Executive Board
Munich, June 17, 2008. Guillaume de Posch, Chairman of the Executive Board of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, will leave the company at his own request on December 31, 2008. This was agreed upon today in mutual consent by the the Supervisory Board and the CEO. Guillaume de Posch has been CEO of ProSiebenSat.1 for the last four years. Andreas Bartl, since May 2008 Managing Director of ProSiebenSat.1s subsidiary German Free-TV Holding GmbH, today joined the Executive Board with responsibility for the management segment German Free-TV.
Götz Mäuser, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG: Guillaume de Posch has provided outstanding leadership to ProSiebenSat.1 over the last 5 years taking the company from its precarious state following the Kirch Media insolvency to become the largest wholly-owned broadcaster in Europe reaching 200 million viewers across 13 countries. We have learnt of Guillaumes decision with regret and wish him well in the next stage of his career. He leaves the company well placed to implement the next phase in its strategic plan to be a multi platform broadcaster throughout Europe underpinned by strong content creation and a growing range of online services. I am pleased to announce that the Supervisory Board today decided that Andreas Bartl, until now Managing Director of German Free-TV, will be joining the Executive Board, keeping his responsibilities. As Managing Director at ProSieben, he was able to position the channel as a leading brand for young entertainment. Under his leadership, some of the most successful TV formats of the past years in Germany have been established, including "Germany's Next Topmodel" or "Beat Your Host". He has been with the ProSiebenSat.1 Group since 1991.
Guillaume de Posch, Chairman of the Executive Board, ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG: Over the last 5 years we were able to put ProSiebenSat.1 on a solid base. It was important to ensure its development as a major pan-European broadcaster, led from Munich. Following the successful acquisition of SBS, we have made good progress in integrating SBS and ProSiebenSat.1. Now is the right time for me to move on. I have been privileged to lead a great company with a strong management team and to have the staunch support of two committed controlling shareholders. I am very happy that Andreas Bartl will now be able to carry his passion for content into the Executive Board. I believe that ProSiebenSat.1 is in a great position to implement the next phase of its development.
Andreas Bartl, Member of the Executive Board, German Free-TV: I am very happy about the nomination. I will continue to pursue the goals of our German Free-TV family of stations. To create outstanding television is the most important part of our strategy.
Götz Mäuser: ProSiebenSat.1 is a fast growing and innovative pan-European broadcaster with a clear strategy to expand its channel network and to acquire strategic online properties to solidify its position at the top of the European media landscape. ProSiebenSat.1 has been investing into new programming developments more than ever before to build on its strong rating track record achieved to date in 2008. During the transition, will be conducting a highly focused search process in order to attract a world class media manager to take ProSiebenSat.1 to the next phase of its development.
Guillaume de Posch studied business administration from 1978 to 1982 at the Ecole de Commerce Solvay in Brussels. He began his career in 1984 with Tractebel S.A., the international energy and services conglomerate, for whose Engineering Division he ultimately served as Vice President Far East in Hong Kong. In 1990 he changed to McKinsey & Company in Belgium, before moving to Luxembourg in 1993 to join the Compagnie Luxembourgeoise Telediffusion (now RTL Group). There he was initially assistant to the Managing Director, subsequently taking charge of CLTs TV operations in French-speaking countries. From 1997 onward he was Deputy General Manager and Programming Director for the Pay TV company TPS in France. Guillaume de Posch has been member of the Executive Board at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG since September 2003 and Chairman of the Executive Board since June 2004.
Andreas Bartl has been the Managing Director at ProSieben since 2005. Here he was able to position ProSieben as a leading brand for youth-orientated entertainment. Under his leadership, some of the most successful TV formats of the past years in Germany have been established, including "Germany's Next Topmodel" or "Beat Your Host". He has been with the ProSiebenSat.1 Group since 1991. He took over managing feature films at ProSieben in 1995. He became the station's Program Scheduling Manager in 1996 and Deputy Programming Director in 1997. From 2000 to 2005, he was Managing Director at ProSieben's partner station kabel eins. He studied in Munich, specializing in American studies, communications and political science.