The Mediapro Board of Directors approved yesterday the release of Jaume Roures as managing partner of the company at the request of the majority shareholder, the Chinese investment group Southwind Media. In addition, the council ratified Tatxo Benet, also managing partner, in the positions of president and CEO. The rest of the members of the management team will continue with the company.
In a statement, the group emphasized that Roures and Benet "have been key pieces in the evolution not only of the Mediapro group, but have been world leaders in the audiovisual sector". Sources close to the group acknowledged that the departure of Roures, the most visible face of the group in the last three decades, is the result of disagreements with the majority shareholder. The statement, however, emphasizes that Benet and the entire management team that remains in the group share "seamlessly" the company's future project. "There is not, in this sense, the slightest disagreement", he points out.
As Benet states in the note, the management team and its CEO are "fully aligned" with the shareholder partners of the Southwind group and WPP. And he adds: "Not only have there been no discrepancies in the future model, but there has not been the slightest change either in the founding project or in the values that the group represents".
The CEO of the company also dedicates a few words to Roures: "Jaume's inspiration and legacy are an irreplaceable part of the Mediapro group's DNA, they will always remain present in the work of this company and will remind us that the first is the people, that we must never give up on our ideas and dreams, that by working as Jaume has done we will continue to achieve everything we pursue, even if it seems very difficult, without fear being a brake on talent and the effort we set ourselves as a goal".
The disengagement of Roures from the company will not be total for now, as it still maintains a representative stake of 5% in its capital. 80% belongs to Southwind Media, a company controlled by the Orient Hontai fund, while the rest is owned by the British multinational WPP (10%) and Tatxo Benet (5%). The decision comes after the Chinese group increased control over Mediapro last year after injecting 620 million euros to refinance the debt accumulated due to the impact of covid.
Under the leadership of Benet and Roures, Mediapro has become a global reference in the audiovisual industry and the management of sports rights. The audiovisual services company, created in Barcelona in 1994, employs around 7,000 people in around thirty countries, more than half in Spain. The large business units of the group – Broadcast and Media Service, The Mediapro Studio, Management of Audiovisual Rights and Innovation and New Audiences – turned over 1,209 million last year, with an ebitda of 190 million.
