Rightster founder exits as Walker takes top post

The founding CEO of UK-based multichannel network Rightster, Charlie Muirhead, has stepped down from his post and will be succeeded by Patrick Walker.

Muirhead founded Rightster in 2011 and led it to become the first publicly-listed MCN in November 2012.

The firm last year acquired rival MCN Base79, whose chief content officer, Walker (below right), will now become Rightster chief executive. The former YouTube EMEA content partnerships executive had been group chief commercial officer since the acquisition closed.

Rightster CFO Niall Dore is remaining at the company, and will support Walker in his new post. A new COO will be appointed, while Muirhead remains a board member.

Muirhead is a serial entrepreneur, having previously founded digital businesses Orchestream, NexAgent, iGabriel, InterProvider, and t5m.

Rightster chairman Mark Lieberman said Muirhead had had a “tremendous impact on the industry” since founding the company. “We transition from his leadership with a clear strategy, top-class leadership team, a new technology platform, and a renewed focus on the customer. The succession plan will now take effect and Patrick and the team will push the company on to the next level.”

“The transformation of Rightster into the first online video distribution network that is a public company is one I have been proud to lead,” said Muirhead. “I look forward to being able to continue to contribute to the success of the business.”

Walker, who launched YouTube’s original content efforts across EMEA, said Rightster would “continue to deliver upon our promise to be the ‘Upload Once, Commercialise Everywhere’ network”.

The news came before Rightster posted unaudited results for the quarter to December 31, 2014 that suggested full year net revenues would exceed £8.5 million (US$12.8 million), a 150% increase on 2013. Views for Q4 were estimated at 1.5 billion, a 25% increase year-on-year.

Audited full year results follow in mid-April.