Thomas Rabe Stepping Down As RTL CEO; Replaced By WBD Western Europe Boss Clément Schwebig
Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) President in Western Europe and Africa is to replace Thomas Rabe at the top of European entertainment giant RTL Group.
Clément Schwebig will succeed Rabe as CEO of RTL from May next year. He is expected to join RTL Group’s Board of Directors as Executive Director. The 60-year-old Rabe is also leaving European giant Bertelsmann, which owns RTL, at the end of next year, and today it was announced he will be replaced as CEO and chairman of that biz by Thomas Coesfeld in what has been a huge boardroom shakeup at one of Europe’s largest businesses. Rabe announced he would not be renewing his Bertelsmann contract in 2024.
RTL Deputy CEO Elmar Heggen is also stepping down “at his own request,” according to RTL, and he will continue on the board of directors. Following the leadership change, RTL Group’s Executive Committee will consist of Schwebig and CFO Björn Bauer.
Schwebig began his career at RTL, where he spent more than a decade managing television operations across Europe before moving to Time Warner/Turner in Hong Kong. He landed a big role when Warner Media and Discovery merged to form WBD, overseeing the biz in Asia, and has since moved to run Western Europe and Africa.
The news comes after a busy period in which RTL sold its Dutch arm to DPG Media and bought Sky Deutschland. The business is trying to carve a way forward in a difficult climate for traditional TV networks. It also runs a streaming service and owns production giant Fremantle.
Rabe has been Chair and CEO of Bertelsmann for 13 years and has been oveseeing RTL for the past six. He will leave the former at the end of next year and the latter in May. He is also chair of Adidas.
“Clément Schwebig is deeply familiar with the global TV industry and with RTL Group,” said Rabe. “We worked together over many years and I greatly value his expertise, leadership style and international network. Together with our CFO Björn Bauer and the CEOs of our business units, he will lead RTL Group with a team of first-class managers to further expand the company, in particular in the areas of streaming and content production.”
Martin Taylor, the chair of the RTL board of directors, added: “We are delighted to welcome Clément Schwebig back to RTL Group to succeed Thomas Rabe. Clément Schwebig brings considerable international expertise across linear TV, streaming and content production. Over more than two decades, he has built an extensive network across the global media industry – a key asset in forming and expanding strategic partnerships. I am very pleased that he has agreed to lead RTL Group into the next phase of its growth, together with our accomplished CFO, Björn Bauer.”
