RTL Deutschland Reorganizes Management Board

RTL Group is reorganizing the management board of RTL Deutschland, which sees Thomas Rabe taking over as chairman and Stephan Schäfer stepping down.

Matthias Dang, co-CEO; Alexander Glatz, CFO; and Oliver Radtke, who is responsible for the overall coordination of the combination of RTL Deutschland and Gruner + Jahr (G+J), will manage RTL Deutschland, along with Andreas Fischer, executive VP of business development at RTL Group.

Fischer joins the management board as chief operating officer.

Rabe, CEO of Bertelsmann and RTL Group, takes over as chairman of the management board of RTL Deutschland.

Schäfer, previously co-CEO of RTL Deutschland, is stepping down from the management board and exiting the company. He will remain associated with RTL in an advisory capacity.

Rabe said: “I look forward to working even more closely with my colleagues at RTL Deutschland in the future. There are exciting tasks and great challenges ahead of us, which we will tackle together. I would like to thank Stephan Schäfer for his dedication to Gruner + Jahr and RTL Deutschland. He provided a lot of impetus at both companies, including the combination of RTL Deutschland and G+J, the repositioning of the RTL brand and the further development of RTL’s programming. I am pleased that he will continue to support us in an advisory capacity.”

He continued: “We have defined clear priorities for the months ahead: We will actively manage the business in an increasingly challenging environment, further strengthen the management team, continue to expand the streaming service RTL+ and complete the combination of RTL Deutschland and G+J.”

Schäfer said: “I would like to thank Thomas Rabe for his trust and our teams in Cologne and Hamburg for their support over the past years, during which we have achieved a great deal together for G+J, RTL and Bertelsmann. As a unified company, RTL Deutschland and G+J are in a good position to become a national media champion in Germany. I look forward to accompanying them on this path in an advisory capacity.”