English Entertainment
BBC Board names Damon Buffini as deputy chair
Mumbai: BBC chairman Richard Sharp has announced the appointment of Damon Buffini to the new role of deputy chair of the BBC board, in his capacity as BBC Commercial Board chair.
Buffini was a founding partner of the international investment firm Permira, where he was managing partner from 1997 to 2010. He has been the Royal National Theatre chair since 2015 and has held multiple non-executive directorships across various industries.
Buffini joined the BBC board as a non-executive director in November 2021 and was appointed chair of the BBC Commercial Board in March 2022. His appointment to deputy chair reflects the importance of the BBC’s commercial activity to the overall success of the organisation.
Talking about the appointment, Sharp said, “I am incredibly pleased that Buffini will take on the additional role of deputy chair of the BBC board, reflecting the integral part that the BBC’s commercial activity plays in the organisation’s overall success. As chair of the BBC Commercial Board, Buffini brings vast experience and expertise to the oversight of our commercial operations at a time when the BBC board is looking for significant and sustained commercial growth.”
Buffini has made three new non-executive director appointments to the BBC Commercial Board.
Gary Newman, Ian Griffiths, and Claire Hungate will all join the BBC Commercial Board as non-executive directors, following approval from the BBC board, with effect from 1 April 2023 for an initial term of three years.
Newman was Fox Television Group chairman & CEO, which included Fox Broadcasting and Twentieth Century Fox Television, until its acquisition by Disney. During his tenure at Fox, he oversaw the development and production of such shows as 24, Glee, Modern Family, Homeland, 911, and The Masked Singer.
Ian Griffiths was the deputy CEO and CFO of market intelligence agency Kantar from 2020 to 2022. Between 2008 and 2019, he served as ITV CFO & COO and was previously EMAP CFO.
Hungate has held the roles of Warner Bros. TV Production UK CEO, Shed Media COO, and Wall to Wall MD. Today, she is Team Liquid’s president and COO. This is an established esports organisation with a global audience reach of around 40 million.
Buffini stated, “The BBC’s commercial subsidiaries, already successful, have been tasked with a further step-change in performance. The appointment of three new non-executives, with spectacular industry experience, reinforces the Commercial Board’s commitment to support and challenge the executive in achieving these stretching goals.”
The new non-executive appointees join to replace non-executive directors Steve Morrison and Dame Elan Closs Stephens, whose full terms on the BBC Commercial Board are due to expire in March 2023.
He added, “I also want to record my sincere thanks to both Elan and Steve for their service. It has been a pleasure to work with them both; their commitment to the BBC’s commercial mission is deeply held, and they step down knowing that the BBC’s commercial activities are in excellent health.”
The BBC Commercial Board oversees the delivery of the BBC’s commercial activities. These are primarily made up of BBC Studios, a global company across production, distribution, licensing, channels, and streaming, and BBC Studioworks, which provides studios and post-production services to the UK’s broadcast and production industry.
English Entertainment
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approve Paramount deal
Investors wave through a $111 billion megamerger but deliver a stinging, if toothless, rebuke over half-a-billion-dollar goodbye packages
NEW YORK: The shareholders said yes to the deal. They said no to the cheque. At a virtual special meeting on Thursday that lasted barely ten minutes, Warner Bros. Discovery investors voted overwhelmingly to approve Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of the company — and then turned around and voted against the lavish exit pay packages lined up for chief executive David Zaslav and his fellow outgoing executives.
Not that it will make much difference. The compensation vote is purely advisory and non-binding. The Warner Bros. Discovery board can, and almost certainly will, pay out as planned.
But the symbolism stings. It is the second consecutive year that WBD shareholders have voted against the executive compensation packages, and this time they had good reason. Zaslav’s exit deal is, by any measure, extraordinary. Under the terms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he is set to receive $34.2 million in cash severance, $517.2 million in equity in the combined company, and $44,195 in continued health coverage — a total of at least $550 million. On top of that, Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed to reimburse Zaslav up to $335 million for taxes assessed by the Internal Revenue Service on his accelerated stock vesting, though the company says that figure will decline depending on when the deal closes. As of March 11, Zaslav also held $115.85 million in vested WBD stock awards — and last month sold a further $114 million worth of WBD shares.
Shareholder advisory firm ISS recommended voting against the compensation measure, citing “problematic” tax reimbursements to Zaslav and the full vesting of his stock awards.
Zaslav will be bound by a two-year non-competition covenant and a two-year non-solicitation of customers and employees after the deal closes.
His lieutenants are not walking away empty-handed either. J.B. Perrette, chief executive and president of global streaming and games, is in line for $142 million, comprising $18.2 million in cash severance and $123.9 million in equity. Bruce Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer, will receive an estimated $121.5 million, including $18.8 million in severance and $102.7 million in equity. Chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels is set for $120 million, made up of $6.6 million in cash severance and $113.1 million in equity. Gerhard Zeiler, president of international, will get $82.6 million, including $11.9 million in severance and $70.7 million in equity.
The deal itself, clinched in February after Netflix declined to raise its bid for Warner Bros., still needs regulatory clearance from the Justice Department and European authorities. Several state attorneys general are also weighing legal action to block it.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, was unsparing. “The Paramount-Warner Bros. merger isn’t a done deal,” she said after the shareholder vote. “State attorneys general across the country are stepping up to stop this antitrust disaster. We need to keep up this fight.”
If it does go through, the combined entity would be a formidable beast, bringing together Paramount Skydance’s stable — CBS, CBS News, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, BET, MTV and Nickelodeon — with WBD’s portfolio of HBO, Max, Warner Bros. film and TV studios, DC, CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV and Discovery+. Paramount has said it expects $6 billion in cost savings from the merger, which is Wall Street shorthand for mass layoffs on a significant scale.
The ten-minute meeting was presided over by chairman Samuel Di Piazza Jr., with Zaslav, Campbell, Wiedenfels and chief communications officer Robert Gibbs in virtual attendance. Di Piazza was bullish. “We appreciate the support and confidence our stockholders have placed in us to unlock the full value of our world-class entertainment portfolio,” he said. “With Paramount, we look forward to creating an exceptional combined company that will expand consumer choice and benefit the global creative talent community.”
Zaslav echoed the sentiment. “Over the past four years, our teams have transformed Warner Bros. Discovery and returned the company to industry leadership,” he said. “Today’s stockholder approval is another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction that will deliver exceptional value to our stockholders.”
Paramount Skydance struck a similar note. “Shareholder approval marks another important milestone towards completing our acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery,” it said in a statement, adding that it looked forward to “closing the transaction in the coming months.”
The shareholders have spoken on the merger. On the pay, they were ignored before the vote was even counted.
