TelevisaUnivision has appointed Daniel Alegre as its next CEO. As part of the board of directors’ long-term succession planning process, Alegre will succeed Wade Davis, who will transition to the role of vice chairman of the board of directors and continue as a member of the board’s executive committee.
Alegre, who hails from Mexico, has strong ties to the Hispanic community and deep work experience across the U.S., Mexico and Latin America. He has more than 30 years of global experience in media, entertainment and technology.
He was most recently CEO of Yuga Labs and previously served as president and chief operating officer of Activision Blizzard, overseeing international gaming studios and the commercialization of franchises of the company’s renowned video games. Alegre has also worked at Google in various roles, including heading up a then-new global and strategic partnership team.
Alegre started his career in radio and music in Mexico and Central America. “On behalf of the board, I’m excited to welcome Daniel to TelevisaUnivision as we embark on the next phase of our strategic journey focused on further integration and optimization,” said Alfonso de Angoitia, executive chairman of TelevisaUnivision, in a statement. “It’s been a very dynamic media environment, and we are grateful for what Wade has accomplished in the turnaround of Univision and the subsequent transformative merger between Univision and Televisa’s content business to create TelevisaUnivision – the world’s leading Spanish-language media and content company. We are proud stewards of a storied and prolific content factory containing the largest Spanish language library of rich and iconic intellectual property. As we look to grow our unparalleled market position and the recent investments in our linear and streaming platforms as well as our news and sports products, Daniel is the right leader at the right time to take the helm. His unique global operational experience working in the U.S., Mexico and Latin America across technology, digital platforms and entertainment honed over three decades is exactly what TelevisaUnivision needs to drive our next phase.”
“The media landscape is undergoing a profound transformation and TelevisaUnivision is strategically poised to seize new opportunities while staying deeply connected to the communities we serve,” said Alegre in the same statement. “The U.S. and Mexico represent the most valuable and populous Spanish-language markets in the world, a demographic that is becoming more prominent both regionally and globally. Building on TelevisaUnivision’s solid foundation, global content pipeline, ongoing investments in cutting-edge technologies, and unmatched reach, we are uniquely positioned to continue serving this vital audience. Wade and the entire TelevisaUnivision team have created a strong multi-platform media business with world-class quality and breadth of entertainment, news and sports programming. I look forward to working with our global teams and partners to build on TelevisaUnivision’s great history and take the company to new heights.”
“In 2020 Searchlight, ForgeLight and Liberty Global partnered with Grupo Televisa in our acquisition of Univision, setting out to turnaround and transform the legacy business. The success of those efforts paved the way for the merger with Televisa’s content business to create TelevisaUnivision – a business without comparison in the global media landscape today,” said Davis. “Thanks to the efforts of our exceptional team, TelevisaUnivision has consistently delivered above-market revenue growth, outperformed the U.S. and Mexican advertising markets and launched and have grown our direct-to-consumer business, ViX, to become the largest dedicated Spanish-language streaming service in the world. We could not have picked a better successor than Daniel, who brings an incredible track record of operational and strategic execution. He is the ideal executive to take TelevisaUnivision into its next phase of growth. The Company’s future is bright, and I look forward to supporting Daniel and the TelevisaUnivision team in my role as Vice Chairman of the Board.”
“We, alongside ForgeLight, invested in Univision in 2020 in support of Wade’s vision of a holistic, growth-led turnaround of the business,” said Eric Zinterhofer, Founding Partner, Searchlight Capital Partners, L.P. “The transaction with Televisa was a continuation of that successful vision at a global scale, resulting in an unmatched, vertically integrated Hispanic media business. In coordination with Grupo Televisa, Wade and the management team, we accomplished the integration of TelevisaUnivision as well as the global launch of ViX, completing the multi-year transformation process. There has been longstanding alignment between TelevisaUnivision, Wade, Searchlight and the rest of the Board to effect an organized succession plan to bring in a world-class CEO to lead the Company in this next phase of its trajectory. We are all extremely supportive of Daniel and have full confidence in the Company’s strategy and management team.”