CNN Money Switzerland ceases operations
After a little over two years, CNN Money Switzerland is ceasing operations. The coronavirus crisis has brought the country's first English-language business channel to a close.
The board of directors decided the day before to file for bankruptcy, announced CNN Money Switzerland in a communiqué on Monday evening.
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on revenues has been significant over the past six months, it said. "While audience numbers have risen sharply, the company's revenues have plummeted," the statement added.
Business partners who were themselves affected by the pandemic had terminated contracts or postponed the implementation of projects. Developments in the Swiss advertising market did not give rise to expectations of sustainable profitability.
The administrator will now initiate the liquidation of the company. In close coordination with the relevant authorities, everything will be done to limit the consequences of this decision for the 25 employees, the statement added. According to media reports last week, the station has not paid July salaries. CH Media had reported on Friday a showdown over the weekend, Le Temps had previously reported on the precarious situation at the station: 27 employees had been waiting for their wages since July.
Megalomania as the reason for failure
If one believes media reports such as the portal Inside Parade Ground, the failure is also, but not only, pandemic-related. In his article, Lukas Hässig doesn't leave a good mark on Christoph Rasch, the CEO of CNN Money Switzerland. He had "burned coal without limits" while the ratings remained "in the unmeasurable range.
This worked as long as two investor brothers from Bangladesh - their Sikder Group owns 70 percent of the station, according to CH Media - paid all the bills without a hitch. When they stopped paying due to Corona, the station immediately fell into financial difficulties. The pair of brothers from Bangladesh are now said to be on the run.
"The reason for failure lies in megalomania: overestimating oneself to the point of being aloof. Instead of slowly establishing an idea in the market while conserving money, and only then investing too heavily, other people's money is squandered," Hässig concludes.
Prominent SRF heads as figureheads
The launch of the channel was announced in January 2017 (Werbewoche.ch reported). At the time, there was talk of CNN using CNN Money Switzerland as a kind of laboratory for other markets in Europe. The station subsequently engaged a number of experienced journalists - the first editor in chief Urs Gredig was advertised at SRF from. When he resignedSRF business figurehead Patrizia Laeri was hired as her successor. (Werbewoche.ch reported).
The channel did not belong to CNN
On January 24, 2018, the channel had gone on air with much fanfare at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. A three-hour program was broadcast daily from 6 to 9 p.m., aimed at executives, business people, the rich and opinion leaders.
Contrary to what the name of the TV channel might suggest, CNN Money Switzerland is not part of the US news channel pioneer CNN, which in 1980 was the first TV channel in the world to broadcast news around the clock. CNN Money Switzerland is a private Swiss company based in Lausanne, its founder Christophe Rasch had said at the end of 2017 with regard to the start of broadcasting. (hae/SDA)
