Kreiz Departs Debt-Laden Endemol

  • News

Endemol CEO Ynon Kreiz has left the company following strategic differences with investors over the direction the group should be heading. His departure comes at a time when the company is struggling to meet loan commitments.

Although Endemol continues to produce massive amounts of reality and entertainment content around the world (Big Brother, Deal or No Deal, Wipeout etc), its finances have been precarious ever since it was acquired for €2.6bn by a consortium including Mediaset, Goldman Sachs and Endemol's founder John de Mol's investment vehicle Cyrte.

In his absence, the Endemol board has appointed president Marco Bassetti and CFO Just Spee as temporary replacements, Charles Allen, formerly of Granada, has been appointed to coordinate key actions and decisions with the Board.

Kreiz is the second major departure in recent times. On June 24, chief commercial officer Tom Toumazis also left the company to become CEO of publisher Mecom Group.