UK's Daily Mail names digital expert Zwillenberg as CEO

By Esha Vaish

May 12 (Reuters) - Britain's Daily Mail named Paul Zwillenberg, a digital media specialist, as its chief executive on Thursday to try to drive up revenues from its popular websites.

Zwillenberg currently works for Boston Consulting Group as the head of its media sector where he helped Daily Mail and General Trust to set up its digital division. He succeeds Martin Morgan, 66, who is retiring at the end of the month.

The appointment of an outsider was a surprise as many analysts had expected Finance Director Stephen Daintith to get the top job.

"(Zwillenberg) is relevant because his digital skill set enables Daily Mail, potentially, to navigate more digital disruption in the sector," Peel Hunt analyst Alex Degroote said.

"It is a surprise, but I get the logic."

Educated at Duke University in North Carolina, Zwillenberg has been based in London and holds both British and U.S. passports.

The Mail's celebrity-focused websites, DailyMail.com and MailOnline, are among the most popular in the English language.

Laden with snaps of Britain's royal family and selfies of reality television stars, they attract a total of 14 million visitors a day.

But the company needs to extract more revenue from online as advertising sales from the right-leaning Daily Mail newspaper shrink fast. Revenue from the websites, 73 million pounds ($104 million) in the last financial year, represent a tenth of the group's consumer media revenue.

DMGT could also be interested in Yahoo! Inc's core Internet business -- which include a search engine and email, news and sports services.

The group said last month that while it had not submitted its own bid, in was still in talks to partner with other suitors of the U.S. firm. Yahoo has shortlisted close to 10 bidders, sources told Reuters soon after.

The change at the helm also prompted speculation of a possible restructuring of the company, analysts said.

Liberum wrote that DMGT could choose to combine its media assets with those of a partner and spin it off whilst taking a significant minority stake.

This would be similar to the strategy DMGT adopted with British property website Zoopla.

However, any changes would need the approval of Jonathan Harmsworth, Viscount Rothermere, who owns all the voting rights in DMGT. Other investors hold only the non-voting shares listed on the London Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru; Editing by Keith Weir)

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