ITV hires headhunter to prepare for succession of top roles
ITV has hired headhunters to source long term replacements for its chief executive Adam Crozier and group finance director Ian Griffiths in preparation for their departures from the broadcaster, Sky News reports.
Adam Crozier, chief executive of ITV, has been with the broadcaster for seven years
ITV's nominations committee, headed by the chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette, has reportedly appointed Spencer Stuart to draft long term options for the eventual departure of the two senior players.
The former Royal Mail boss Crozier has been chief executive of the broadcaster for seven years, while Griffiths has been the finance boss for nine years. It is thought the length of their tenures has pushed ITV's board to ready itself for their eventual exit, although neither have indicated their plans to depart.
ITV did not return a comment request by time of publishing.
Crozier was appointed to the role in 2010 during struggling times at the broadcaster. At the time he called it a "fairly dysfunctional organisation" with a lot to fix. He has since turned around its shares from around 56p in January 2010 to 206.4p at the close of 2016, giving ITV a market value of approximately £8.2bn.
This is despite a concerning year for TV advertising in 2016 following a Brexit backlash that led Crozier to announce a £25m cost saving venture in 2017, citing "political and economic uncertainty” and “more cautious behaviour by advertisers". In October ITV announced plans to cut 120 jobs as part of the cost cutting measures.
Last month a long-teased joint venture between ITV and public broadcaster BBC, Britbox, launched in the US to give viewers ad-free streaming of a catalogue of British shows, as a way to boost international revenues for the broadcasters and help British producers and talent to reach a wider audience.