Financial Times Recruits New Managing Director
The Financial Times has announced the appointment of Michael Rzesnitzek as managing director of the newspaper’s operations in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Rzesnitzek, a German national who studied in the UK and France, is currently managing director of FT Deutschland, a paper launched 5 years ago by the Financial Times and Gruner & Jahr. The new move will see him join the FT in London in February and report to chief executive Olivier Fleurot. The new role will see Rzesnitzek oversee all the FT‘s commercial operations in print and online in the EMEA region.
The responsibility for the FT‘s UK, European, Middle East and African operations covers a wide area, as the newspaper is one of Europe’s largest selling titles, printed in 8 European cities and on sale in 40 European countries.
Commenting on the appointment, Olivier Fleurot, CEO of the Financial Times, said: “Michael is a proven publisher, with strong strategic and operational skills and an excellent knowledge of the European market. Michael has done a terrific job at FT Deutschland, launching the paper 5 years ago and developing and nurturing it into Germany’s fastest growing newspaper, with a circulation approaching 100,000. He will be a very strong addition to our management team, and I’m delighted he is joining us in London.”
Rzesnitzek added: “After 5 fascinating years at FT Deutschland, I’m hugely excited by the new challenge of running the FT‘s operations in EMEA. The Financial Times is the world’s leading business newspaper brand, and I’m delighted to be joining the management team.”
The FT recently called time on its respected Creative Business supplement, winding the section down and choosing to incorporate media news into the main newspaper on a monthly basis, rather than as a weekly section.
The closure was due to a failure by the 16-page supplement to bring in adequate advertising revenue, putting Creative Business directly in the firing line of a recent £7 million cost cutting drive by the paper (see FT Pulls The Plug On Creative Business).
Financial Times: 020 873 3000 www.ft.com
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