ProSiebenSat.1 CEO Ebeling leaves after series of breakdowns - successor open

ProSiebenSat.1 says it has not yet found a successor. A successor to Ebeling, now 58, is apparently being sought outside the Group.

In case a new chief is not ready in time, long-time Executive Board member and chief lawyer Conrad Albert is to take over for a transitional period. The Supervisory Board therefore appointed him Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, as ProSiebenSat.1 announced on Sunday evening to coincide with Ebeling's departure.

Albert has been a member of the management team since 2011, making him the longest-serving member of the Executive Board after Ebeling. In addition to legal matters, the 50-year-old is also responsible for media policy issues, the purchase of broadcasting rights and sales.

Too flippant remarks

Ebeling, who was the first German media group to lead ProSiebenSat.1 into the Dax last year, has not been able to continue his winning streak lately. The affair involving flippant remarks about viewers of the chain of stations comprising ProSieben, Sat.1, Kabel 1 and several special-interest stations was just the tip of the iceberg. Ebeling had caused a stir when he had explained to analysts the target group's affinity for classic TV by saying: "There are people who are a little obese and a little poor, who still like to sit on the couch, lean back and really enjoy being entertained."

Last year, Ebeling surprised his investors with a capital increase, which caused the share price to plummet. Subsequently, three members of the Management Board and his press spokesman left the Group in quick succession, and the Management Board was repeatedly reshuffled.

At the Annual General Meeting, shareholders voted to disapprove of the Management Board's bonus system, and Ebeling also had to admit that he had not explained his strategy well enough to investors. Finally, in the current year, Ebeling has repeatedly disappointed the stock market by lowering his business expectations one slice at a time.

Fairytale rise

Ebeling, who once came to ProSiebenSat.1 from the pharmaceuticals industry, had actually brought the station chain a fairytale rise. From an all-time low of 88 cents when he took office in 2009, the share price rose to more than 50 euros at times under the psychology graduate.

With the sale of foreign stations and a massive expansion on the Internet, Ebeling carried off the mountain of debt and propelled the Group into the black. The booming digital business was the savior - it made ProSiebenSat.1 less dependent on TV advertising.

Less than half of revenues today come from this fluctuation-prone business. Linking the high-reach stations with the online world became a box-office hit. Ebeling also drove the production of TV content.

The strategy is not to change under the new boss. "The Supervisory Board expressly supports the implementation of the three-pillar strategy," Brandt emphasized. For the latter, ProSieben is looking for financially strong partners. According to insiders, at least four offers have been received for Internet companies such as the comparison portal Verivox and the dating portal Parship, according to which the digital division is worth significantly more than EUR 1.3 billion.

But ProSiebenSat.1 only wants to part with a minority stake. "With this, we are aligning the Group structure with a dynamically developing media landscape," Brandt said. He paid tribute to Ebeling as "one of the outstanding entrepreneurial personalities in the media industry. (SDA)