Mediapro chief Jaume Roures ousted after 30 years amid reports of sale talks

The Head

Spanish giant Mediapro has made the shock move to dismiss its managing partner Jaume Roures from the company he founded more than 30 years ago, as discussions around its future persist.

Mediapro, which has been behind shows ranging from The Head and The New Pope to The Paradise and Locked Up, will now be led solely by Tatxo Benet, who retains his position of president and CEO.

Roures had worked with Benet for the past decade as managing partner of the Spanish media giant, which employs more than 7,000 people and operates across TV production and distribution in almost 60 countries.

Locked Up

Its output, aside from drama, includes unscripted shows such as Crush and Zapeando, as well as movies like A Perfect Day and Camino. The company is also heavily involved in sports, signing a new deal with Spanish football’s La Liga earlier this year.

Shareholder ousting

Roures’ departure comes amid a turbulent time for Mediapro, which he founded in Barcelona in 1994 alongside Gerard Romy, with Benet assisting with the company’s launch.

The group then grew to become one of Spain’s largest media players, operating across sports as well as moving heavily into TV production and distribution, with recent shows such as The Head S3 travelling around the globe.

Roures’ dismissal was called for by Mediapro’s majority shareholder Southwind Group, a Hong Kong-based investment firm that owns around 85% of the Spanish company.

Southwind increased its stake in Mediapro in June last year after agreeing to refinance debt for the Spanish firm, following a squeeze blamed on the pandemic.

Reuters then reported at the start of October 2023 that Southwind was looking to sell its interest in the company, which also counts UK-based ad firm WPP – along with Roures and Benet – among its main investors.

Company future

Benet did not address the reports of a potential sale in announcing Roures’s exit, but said that Mediapro shared Southwind and WPP’s plans for the firm.

“Mediapro has become a great company, a resilient company that has shown that it has always known how to overcome any new challenge,” he said, adding that it would “continue to do so with the same efficiency, effectiveness and dedication.”

Benet continued: “The entire management team and its CEO are fully aligned with the group’s shareholder partners, Southwind and WPP, with whom we seamlessly share the company’s future project. There is not the slightest disagreement in this sense.”

Jaume Roures (CC: ESADE Press Room)

Roures’ departure will not affect other execs, Mediapro said, confirming that its existing management team “will continue normally in their positions.”

That team includes director general Juan Ruiz de Gauna, director of broadcast & media José Luis Rubio, Mediapro Studio topper Laura Fernández Espeso, and director of innovation Carmen Fernández Tallón, all under Benet.

The new Mediapro topper added: “The void that Jaume leaves in the group is immense, and from a personal point of view I will greatly miss these wonderful decades of working together, side by side, during which we have collaborated to build the Mediapro Group and make it into what it is.

“But this would not have been possible without the people who work in the group, the best professionals in their respective areas. In this sense, Mediapro will continue to be in very good hands.”

Following his ousting, Roures told Spanish TV that he would be selling his stake in Mediapro, estimated at around 5%.