Tamedia boss Tonini to leave the company in a year's time
There is a change in leadership at the media group Tamedia. CEO Christoph Tonini has announced his departure, effective June 30, 2020. According to a statement released Wednesday, he wants to pursue a new career path following his 50th birthday and after 17 years at Tamedia.
Tonini had long ago expressed his intention to make a career change after his 50th birthday and 17 years at Tamedia, Tamedia announced on Wednesday.
Tonini, who has been CEO since 2013, has achieved "extraordinary things", the statement continued. Over 80 percent of the Group's current results stem from new businesses in the areas of commuter media, advertising marketing and marketplaces, which were developed and acquired under his leadership.
Following the departure of Tonini, Chairman of the Board of Directors and publisher Pietro Supino will take over as Group CEO in July 2020 - and thus a member of the founding family of Tagesanzeiger-Verlag.
However, the Group will be restructured by then. Specifically, Tamedia will be largely decentralized. From the beginning of 2020, the four business divisions will be managed as independent units "each with its own management, board of directors and income statement". There is talk of a "holding-like structure".
In addition to Supino, Samuel Hügli (Technology & Ventures) and Sandro Macciacchini (Finance & Human Resources) remained members of the Group's management team.
According to the information provided, the four largely autonomous business areas are "Paid Media", which will be managed by Marco Boselli and Andreas Schaffner, "Commuter Media" (managed by Marcel Kohler), "Advertising Marketing" (Michi Frank) and "Marketplaces" (Christoph Brand). The composition of the boards of directors and management boards of the units will be determined in the second half of the year, the statement continued.
Thanks to the decentralization, the four units should be able to act more agile "in the relevant markets with their different laws", as the statement continued.
Group management will support the implementation of the strategy in future and ensure the use of synergies. In particular, Tamedia wants to improve its products with the Group-wide use of data. It was also emphasized that publishing "as the origin of the Group" remains the central publishing concern and a focus of investment. (SDA/pd)
