News

19 May 2008

ENDEMOL HIRES YNON KREIZ AS GLOBAL CEO

Endemol Group, the global leader in scripted and non-scripted programming for television and digital media, announced today that Ynon Kreiz has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Kreiz is a leading media investor and former Chairman and CEO of Fox Kids Europe. He will begin his new post on June 1, 2008. Endemol is owned by investors Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Mediacinco (a company jointly Owned by Mediaset and TeleCinco), and Cyrte Investments.

Between 1997-2002 Mr. Kreiz was Chairman and CEO of Fox Kids Europe N.V. (FKE), which he co-founded with Mr. Haim Saban in October 1996. Under Mr. Kreiz's management, Fox Kids became one of the fastest growing pay-TV channel in Europe and the Middle East, broadcasting in 56 countries in 17 languages. FKE was also a leading provider of children's programming, distributing content to more than 100 different terrestrial, cable and satellite channels in 56 markets across Europe and the Middle East, and one of the largest independent merchandising operations in Europe, active in 33 countries.

FKE was listed on the Euronext Stock Exchange in Amsterdam in November 1999. The majority shareholding in the company was sold by Fox Family World Wide, Inc. (FFWW), a joint venture between Saban Entertainment and News Corp., to the Walt Disney Company in October 2001, as part of its acquisition of FFWW.

Since 2003, Mr. Kreiz worked as an investor in the media industry. Between 2005-2007, Mr. Kreiz was a General Partner at Balderton Capital (formerly Benchmark Capital Europe), a leading venture capital firm, where he served on the boards of Setanta Sports and Codemasters. With approximately $1.5 billion in committed capital, the firm has made more than 80 investments across a variety of geographies and market sectors, including media and technology.

Sanjay Patel of Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Chairman of the Endemol Executive Committee said, "Ynon brings to Endemol a stellar track record of financial and operational success in creative businesses. He is the ideal executive to assume the leadership of Endemol at this critical juncture in the evolution of the media, entertainment and digital industries. The investors look forward to Ynon working in close partnership with the Chief Operating Officer Marco Bassetti and the management team of Endemol. We would also like to thank the interim Chief Executive Officer, Aat Schouwenaar and the entire management team of Endemol, who have done a tremendous job since our acquisition."

Mr. Kreiz commented: "I am very excited to join Endemol and I look forward to working with one of the most talented groups of creative professionals in the world. As a global content platform with local operations in over 20 countries, driven by cutting edge innovation that has defined the company for more than a decade, Endemol has the opportunity to dramatically expand its business and play a key role in driving convergence between media and technology. I look forward to being part of another period of growth and expansion for the company.