Fuse Media CEO Leads Management Buyout

Fuse Media CEO Miguel “Mike” Roggero has led a management buyout of the cross-platform entertainment brand focused on delivering English-language content for Latino, multicultural millennial and Gen Z audiences.

Fuse Media’s assets include Fuse and FM (Fuse Music) linear and VOD channels, Fuse Digital, OTT channels and apps, as well as live events. Roggero heads a Latino-led management group that has taken a majority, controlling interest in the company. The group also includes Judi Lopez, head of content distribution; Fernando Romero, head of ad sales; and senior members Marc Leonard, Mark McIntire and Patrick Courtney, who oversee programming, marketing and digital, respectively. The company’s new Board of Directors includes Tony Nieves, president of MARCA, a leading creative and marketing agency targeting the Latino community; Emeli Colletta, the former head of marketing for Univision Interactive.

“At a time when millions of Americans of all races and ethnicities are calling for more representation and servicing of underserved communities, the Fuse Media management team is taking ownership of its collective destiny. Literally,” Roggero said. “Only through ownership can Latino and other minorities reach our true potential. Ownership matters, especially in media, which must do a better job of realistically reflecting communities of color. Ownership means control and the best way to determine one’s fate. And today, we are taking our destinies, and those of our community, into our own hands.”

Lopez added, “Under our new, Latino ownership and management, Fuse will continue our mission that started over 16 years ago: to serve the Latino audience with authentic representation of all aspects of their lives and culture—from Dreamers and Afro-Latinos, to recent immigrants and families that have been here for generations. Fuse looks forward to working with our distribution partners to further reach this rapidly growing and diverse segment of the U.S. video marketplace, offering a unique home for a historically underserved audience that deserves to see a true reflection of America—the country in which they live—with authentic images and stories they expect to see.”

Roggero concluded, “We could not be more excited at the opportunities that lie before us as one of the few Latino-owned and operated enterprises in entertainment, and probably the first-ever Latino-management acquisition of a media company in the U.S. With our dedicated team and our reconstituted Board of Directors, we have the talent and expertise to grow our business both in terms of outreach and value. The Latino community is one of the largest in America and still one of the most underrepresented in media, but with its enormous involvement in our economy, it continues to present exceptional expansion potential for Fuse Media.”