Ynon Kreiz Tapped for CEO Role at Endemol

HILVERSUM, May 19: Former
Fox Kids Europe chief Ynon Kreiz has been appointed as CEO of the Endemol
Group, succeeding Aat Schouwenaar.

Schouwenaar returned to
Endemol as CEO last July after Telefónica offloaded its majority ownership in
the Dutch format giant. The company’s new owners are John de Mol’s Cyrte
Investments, Mediacinco (a joint venture of Mediaset and Telecinco) and Goldman
Sachs Capital Partners.

Kreiz is a former chairman
and CEO of Fox Kids Europe who was most recently general partner at Balderton
Capital (formerly Benchmark Capital Europe), a leading venture-capital firm.

Announcing the
appointment, Sanjay Patel of Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, the chairman of
the Endemol Executive Committee, said, “Ynon brings to Endemol a stellar track
record of financial and operational success in creative businesses. He is the
ideal executive to assume the leadership of Endemol at this critical juncture
in the evolution of the media, entertainment and digital industries. The
investors look forward to Ynon working in close partnership with the COO, Marco
Bassetti, and the management team of Endemol. We would also like to thank the
interim CEO, Aat Schouwenaar, and the entire management team of Endemol, who
have done a tremendous job since our acquisition.”

Kreiz’s appointment is
effective June 1. He said of his new position: “As a global content platform
with local operations in over 20 countries, driven by cutting-edge innovation
that has defined the company for more than a decade, Endemol has the
opportunity to dramatically expand its business and play a key role in driving
convergence between media and technology. I look forward to being part of
another period of growth and expansion for the company.”

—By Mansha Daswani