TelevisaUnivision replaces CEO; source cites lagging results
Recasts on confirmation of replacement, company statement
By Cassandra Garrison
MEXICO CITY, Sept 18 (Reuters) -TelevisaUnivision, a Mexican-American media company that combines content from two of the largest Spanish-language broadcasters, said on Wednesday it replaced its chief executive Wade Davis.
Davis, who had been CEO since the joint venture was formed in 2021, will be succeeded by Daniel Alegre, a Mexican who most recently served as chief executive of non-fungible token maker Yuga Labs.
The move was part of a "long-term succession planning process," the company said in a statement. Davis will transition to the role of vice chairman and continue as a member of the board's executive committee.
Davis was terminated, according to a source with knowledge of the decision, due to some company results that have lagged internal expectations.
"He lost the confidence of the U.S. side, the Mexican side and of the funds," the source said.
Davis, a former ViacomCBS executive who is based in the U.S., did not respond to a request for comment.
In TelevisaUnivision's statement, Davis said: "We could not have picked a better successor than Daniel, who brings an incredible track record of operational and strategic execution. He is the ideal executive to take TelevisaUnivision into its next phase of growth."
Alegre, who will begin as CEO on Thursday, previously worked at videogame maker Activision Blizzard and spent 16 years at Google, during which he oversaw the tech giant's expansion in Latin America and Asian Pacific countries.
TelevisaUnivision is a joint venture between Televisa TLEVISACPO.MX, Mexico's largest broadcaster, and U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster Univision. Davis oversaw the launch of streaming service ViX, which now has about 50 million global monthly active users and competes with Netflix Inc NFLX.O and Disney Plus DIS.N.
Davis, who was hired to lead the newly formed company in 2021, had served as the CEO of Univision since Searchlight Capital Partners and ForgeLight, which Davis founded, completed their majority stake purchase of the network in 2020.
The SoftBank 9984.T Latin America fund was one of TelevisaUnivision's original investors, alongside ForgeLight, a private equity firm, Google and The Raine Group.
TelevisaUnivision posted a 4% drop in profit to $1.61 billion in 2023. The company's debt stands at $9.8 billion, according to its second-quarter report.
The firm has, however, seen gains in total revenue and revenue from advertising in 2023 and so far in 2024, most of which has been driven by the Mexican market. Company officials had hoped for stronger gains in the U.S. market, the source said.
Reporting by Cassandra Garrison; editing by Stephen Eisenhammer, Christian Plumb and Lincoln Feast.
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