RTL names new German management team ahead of G+J merger

Matthias Dang and Stephan Schäfer

RTL Group has named Matthias Dang and Stephan Schäfer as the new become Co-CEOs of RTL Deutschland, with former CEO Bernd Reichart leaving to take on new management responsibilities within the Bertelsmann Group.

Following its move to combine RTL Deutschland and publisher Gruner + Jahr in January next year, RTL Group has said that Dang and Schäfer will take over the leadership of RTL Deutschland as co-CEOs from September 1.

Schäfer will continue to be responsible for RTL Deutschland’s content and brands, including its journalistic offering. He will also remain CEO of Gruner + Jahr.

Dang will continue to lead all commercial, technological and digital activities of the company. He will also remain CEO of the advertising sales house Ad Alliance.
Oliver Radtke, managing director of Gruner + Jahr, will additionally become a member of the management board of RTL Deutschland, responsible for the overall coordination of the combination of RTL Deutschland and the publishing outfit
Julia Reuter, managing director strategy, HR and culture, and Alexander Glatz, chief financial officer, will remain members of the management board of RTL Deutschland.

Thomas Rabe, CEO of RTL Group, said: “By combining RTL Deutschland and Gruner + Jahr, we are creating Germany’s first cross-media champion and making a clear commitment towards long-term growth and greater investment in quality content, diversity and pluralism of opinion. For this important task, we have created a new leadership structure. With Stephan Schäfer and Matthias Dang, the company will be led by two co-CEOs who know and complement each other well, combining programming competence with journalistic and commercial expertise, strategic foresight and leadership strength. With the successful establishment and expansion of the Ad Alliance, they have demonstrated that the combination of RTL and G+J creates value for both sides and opens up new growth perspectives. I wish Matthias Dang, Stephan Schäfer and the whole management team every success in their future tasks and look forward to working with them.”

Schäfer and Dang said: “We look forward to our new role with both joy and respect. RTL Deutschland has set itself many goals, including the positioning of RTL as a leading entertainment brand that stands for independent journalism, attitude and inspiration. To achieve this, we want to expand our family of channels in Germany around RTL and Vox, alongside further accelerating the growth of our streaming service RTL+. From January onwards, we will also have the opportunity and the mission to build Gruner + Jahr’s journalistic expertise and brands into something new – the first media company that is a leader in all genres, attractive to creatives and audiences alike. We are very much looking forward to working with all our great colleagues to achieve these goals.”