Following the creation of the new merged company, its managing team announced the departure of Whit Richardson and confirmed the new executives that will take on the leadership roles for the international division.
Following the completion of the merger between Warner Media and Discovery, resulting in the new company Warner Bros. Discovery, the new leadership team for Warner Bros. Discovery International (WBD International) was announced.
Through an internal communication accessed by ttvnews, Gerhard Zeiler, Head of WBD International, announced in the last few hours the departure of Whit Richardson from the new international unit and confirmed the new regional leaders, appointing Fernando Medin as president and managing director for LatAm and US Hispanic.
“Following several conversations with senior leaders across both WarnerMedia and Discovery’s international businesses, I am pleased to confirm the leadership team for Warner Bros. Discovery’s international operations reporting to me,” announced Zeiler.
“Our combined international business has significant scale, and a diversified portfolio – both geographically and across lines of business. As a result, when deciding the new leadership structure, we wanted to ensure that we had dedicated regional leads, to reflect the scale and complexity of the business which would, in turn, increase focus on key markets. This results in a different geographical split to the pre-merger state which will also allow each of the regional leaders to more rapidly assess opportunities for growth and efficiency and to integrate the two companies quickly.”
On the one hand, Zeiler announced the departure of Whit Richardson.
“I am incredibly sad to be losing Whit Richardson from the International leadership team. I am not one for exaggeration as many of you know but Whit’s impact on our Latin America business has been nothing short of exceptional, his contribution over the past couple of decades invaluable,” he said.
“Separately, I am pleased to share that Anil Jhingan, currently President & MD for Discovery Asia Pacific, will be taking up a new position leading business development for the enlarged WBD group across all of our international markets, as part of Bruce Campbell’s organisation,” he added.
The new WBD International team
Priya Dogra is appointed President & Managing Director, EMEA (ex. Poland) overseeing the company’s combined, significant footprint across the region. Continuing to be based in London, Priya will be responsible for integrating and operating the Discovery and WM International orgs across the region.
James Gibbons is appointed President & Managing Director, Australia, New Zealand & Japan reporting to me. He will also continue to manage the Nordics region for an interim period of time for which he will report to Priya and will transition the leadership of Discovery UK & Ireland to Priya who will oversee them directly in the interim. He will remain based in London in 2022 and plans to move back to Asia early 2023. James has been with Discovery since 1999 and had multiple roles across Europe and Asia most recently leading the UK and Nordic businesses.
Kasia Kieli is appointed President & Managing Director, Poland and CEO of TVN. In this role, Kasia brings a wealth of experience about the dynamics of the Polish media sector. Nobody could be better equipped to grow our substantial assets in Poland and defend the leading position of the WBD-TVN group of channels in the country.
Fernando Medin is appointed President & Managing Director, Latin America & US Hispanic. He will remain based in São Paulo and will take responsibility for the significant combined business in the region which includes key sports rights and a strong portfolio of channels.
Clement Schwebig is appointed President & Managing Director, South-East Asia (SEA), Korea and India. Clement will continue to be based in Singapore where he has been running the newly integrated WarnerMedia business operations since 2020.
Gillian Zhao, President, China WM will continue to report to me in her current function. Gillian has been in her role since 2016 and has successfully broadened and strengthened our business in that time period.
Tony Qiu, who currently is GM, SVP for Greater China & SEA and APAC DTC lead for the Discovery assets will report to me regarding his Greater China and DTC role and to Clement Schwebig for his SEA responsibilities.
Andrew Georgiou continues as President & Managing Director, WBD Sports Europe based in London leading the Sports business, retaining his current portfolio which includes Eurosport, PlaySports Group (incl. Global Cycling Network), Golf portfolio (PGA Tour, GOLFTV and Golf Digest) and the Sports Events Business.
Robert Blair continues to lead our significant licensing business as President, WBD International Television Distribution, working together and being jointly responsible with each of the regional Presidents for the licensing of all our TV and film content.
Ronald Goes continues as EVP and Head of International TV Production leading the International WB Production business.
