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The irreplaceable: Thomas Rabe must remain head of RTL Deutschland

Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka / dpa

Whenever Thomas Rabe (58) has been asked about his strange accumulation of offices in recent months, he gave a clear answer: In the short term, no one else could be found to lead RTL Deutschland through difficult months. "Certainly not for more than a year" he wanted to lead the largest private German broadcasting group, he predicted in August 2022; At the beginning of this year, he extended the self-imposed deadline until the end of 2023.

Now Rabe has given up his claim to retire from his part-time job at the subsidiary in the foreseeable future only to his job as head of Bertelsmann and the largest subsidiary RTL Group in Luxembourg. "There is no search for a new managing director for RTL Deutschland," he said on Tuesday. "In view of the challenges we are facing, we do not think it makes sense to change the personnel line-up again."

Rabe thus remains in control of the German management for an indefinite period of time with co-boss Matthias Dang (56), CFO Ingrid Heisserer (50), Andreas Fischer as head of operations and program manager Stephan Schmitter (48) - and thus creates new discord in the group.

The power of bad numbers

For a long time, there has been a shake of the head in the group about the accumulation of offices, more or less openly Rabe is accused of a personnel and intellectual emaciation. Executives left the company in droves, some voluntarily, some not. At the same time, Rabe's financial record is excellent after a good eleven years as CEO.

At RTL Deutschland, of all places, he is now writing a negative story financially after twelve months in office. At the same time as the appointment, RTL Group lowered its already low annual forecasts – especially with reference to the situation in Germany. Earnings before interest, taxes, amortization and goodwill adjusted for non-recurring items are expected to amount to only EUR 950 million, which is around EUR 50 million less than expected. The reason for this is the decline in the sales forecast from 7.3 to 7.4 billion euros to only seven billion euros.

In the first six months of this year, adjusted profit of 250 million euros was half below the figure for the first half of 2022. In the German TV market in particular, lower earnings contributions were made. For the second half of the year, RTL expects stable to slightly growing TV advertising revenues, but still declining figures in the current third quarter. In the first six months, these revenues fell by 12.5 percent to 1.2 billion euros, and the advertising business was particularly poor in Germany.

A chairman who doesn't exist

Rabe is not directly responsible for the development. RTL Deutschland performed considerably in an advertising slump and increased its market share, which, according to RTL, is now 5.8 percentage points higher than its stumbling competitor ProSiebenSat.1. The sale of Gruner+Jahr magazines, which has been accompanied by much unrest, is also expected to be completed soon. Most recently, the stake in the Landlust publishing house Deutsche Medien-Manufaktur and the titles P.M., Business Punk and Salon were sold individually. For 11 friends and Art, a conclusion is imminent. In the end, a low double-digit million amount is to be raised. For the Christmas business, the RTL+ multimedia offering, which has stalled in terms of content but is growing rapidly, will also be improved; an essential project for the future.

More on the subject

  • Inside Report:How Sole Ruler Thomas Rabe Leads BertelsmannBy Henning Hinze

  • After a decline in profits: RTL wants to invest millions more in streaming services

  • Gruner + Jahr:Thomas Rabe's Operation WastebasketBy Henning Hinze

However, the fact that CEO Rabe is saying goodbye to the smallest subsidiary he leads with missed forecasts and a 12 percent lower profit would probably have been even more difficult to convey internally than the accumulation of offices.

He is now trying to defuse this with a communicative volte. He will increasingly take on the role of chairman, said Rabe – a function that does not formally exist at RTL Deutschland. And he also did not want to rule out a formal exit from the management. "For the time being, without a deadline does not mean that it still has to be the same in 2025."

with material from Reuters