RTL Group restructures its management team in Germany

German broadcasting company RTL Deutschland has promoted Matthias Dang and Stephan Schäfer to co-CEO as part of a restructure of its management team following the acquisition of local publishing house Gruner + Jahr. Both executives will take over leadership of the group effective today, while the firm’s former CEO, Bernd Reichart, will depart to take on new management responsibilities at Bertelsmann Group, RTL's parent company.

In his new role, Schäfer will continue to be responsible for RTL in Germany’s content and brands, including its journalistic offering, and will also be CEO of Gruner + Jahr. He had been Managing Director of Content and Brands at RTL since February 2019. Prior to joining RTL, he worked at Gruner + Jahr as Editor-in-Chief and Publishing Director.

Meanwhile, Dang will continue to lead all commercial, technological and digital activities at RTL, having been appointed Managing Director of Marketing, Technology and Data at RTL in February 2019. He will also remain CEO of RTL’s German advertising sales house subsidiary, Ad Alliance.

Moreover, in addition to the new positions for Dang and Schäfer, Gruner + Jahr’s Managing Director, Oliver Radtke, will become a member of the RTL Deutschland management board, with responsibility for coordinating the merger between RTL and Gruner + Jahr.

“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,”  said Thomas Rabe, CEO of RTL Group.