Ynon Kreiz takes Endemol reins
Exec named CEO of global production
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Kreiz takes the reins of Endemol on June 1. He succeeds Aat Schouwenaar, who returned to Endemol last year as interim chief exec following its acquisition by a consortium that included company co-founder John de Mol, Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners.
Kreiz is a longtime associate of media mogul Haim Saban. Kreiz co-founded Fox Kids Europe with Saban and served as its chairman and CEO from 1997-2002. More recently, Kreiz has been active as an investor in media companies, serving as a general partner at London-based venture capital firm Balderton Capital (formerly Benchmark Capital Europe).
“Ynon brings to Endemol a stellar track record of financial and operational success in creative businesses,” said Sanjay Patel, chairman of the Endemol executive committee.
A pioneer in the global unscripted format biz, Endemol has successful programming operations running in 25 countries, including a newly established Endemol Middle East unit based in Dubai. Company made its mark in the U.S. and other territories with its reality competish hit “Big Brother,” which has become a staple of CBS’ summer sked over the past seven years. Endemol’s other active U.S. series include NBC’s “Deal or No Deal” and ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” and “Wipe Out.”
De Mol’s Cyrte Investments teamed with Mediaset and Goldman Sachs last year in a $4 billion deal to buy the company from Spanish telco Telefonica. Telefonica paid $7.6 billion for Endemol in 2000.
Kreiz said it was the company’s global approach to business and the caliber of the Endemol investors that attracted him to the CEO post. Kreiz will be based out of London but also will spend a lot of time working at the company’s headquarters in Hilversum, Netherlands.
“It is one of the very select few truly global production companies,” Kreiz said. “They’ve been a pioneer in everything to do with reality formats. They have a great platform that can be leveraged to expand the businesses that they’re in today, and also to get us into new areas and new businesses.”
During Kreiz’s tenure at Fox Kids Europe, the company grew into a kidvid juggernaut broadcasting in 56 countries and 17 languages. In recent years, Kreiz has been involved with a range of media investments on his own and through Balderton, serving on the board of vidgame publisher Codemasters and pay TV dynamo Setanta Sports. He also served as a key adviser to Saban Capital on its purchase of Teuton TV titan ProSiebenSat 1.
Having spent the past few years analyzing media and digital business models, Kreiz sees ample opportunities for Endemol to expand the scope of its new-media operations in ways that will “take the shows beyond the (TV) screen.”
Endemol’s owners first approached Kreiz about coming onboard months ago. At the time he was unable to consider the offer due to other commitments; after the situation changed for Kreiz, the deal for him to join Endemol as CEO came together over the past few weeks. Exec recruiting firm Spencer Stuart handled the CEO search for Endemol.
Kreiz takes over a company that boasts a strong balance sheet; Endemol reported earnings of $233 million on revenue of $1.5 billion in 2006. It also has the resources through its operations and its investors to make acquisitions and pursue other growth initiatives, Kreiz said.
Kreiz is “one of the best analytical minds I have encountered. He’s hard-working and a relentless visionary.” Haim Saban said of his former exec. During the past year, following the sale, Endemol has experienced significant management turnover in its various units and new leaders appointed in key divisions including Endemol U.K. and Endemol France. Kreiz said he’s impressed with the management team that he is inheriting.
Co-founder de Mol is a “key asset” to the company but will not have an executive role in the day-to-day management of Endemol, Kreiz said. De Mol has a joint production venture with Endemol through Talpa TV, the company he launched after leaving Endemol in late 2003.
Schouwenaar had served as Endemol CEO under de Mol’s stewardship prior to the sale to Telefonica, and he left the company at the same time de Mol exited. Schouwenaar returned to Endemol last July on a temporary basis to help guide the company through the ownership transition.
