TelevisaUnivision Names Daniel Alegre as New CEO, Wade Davis Steps Down

September 18, 2024 @ 9:15 PM

Spanish-language media giant TelevisaUnivision has made a big change to leadership, naming Daniel Alegre at its new CEO. Alegre will assume the role effective tomorrow, Sep. 19.

Alegre is replacing Wade Davis, the former Viacom CFO who oversaw the merger between Univision and Mexico-based media conglomerate Grupo Televisa in 2022. Davis will continue on at the company as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, and remain part of the company’s executive committee.

“As we look to grow our unparalleled market position and the recent investments in our linear and streaming platforms as well as our news and sports products, Daniel is the right leader at the right time to take the helm. His unique global operational experience working in the U.S., Mexico and Latin America across technology, digital platforms and entertainment honed over three decades is exactly what TelevisaUnivision needs to drive our next phase,” the company said in part in a statement Wednesday night.

A native of Mexico, Alegre most recently was CEO of Yuga Labs. Before that he was President and COO of video game giant Activision Blizzard, which followed a 16-year tenure at Google in multiple executive positions.

“The media landscape is undergoing a profound transformation and TelevisaUnivision is strategically poised to seize new opportunities while staying deeply connected to the communities we serve. The U.S. and Mexico represent the most valuable and populous Spanish-language markets in the world, a demographic that is becoming more prominent both regionally and globally. Building on TelevisaUnivision’s solid foundation, global content pipeline, ongoing investments in cutting-edge technologies, and unmatched reach, we are uniquely positioned to continue serving this vital audience. Wade and the entire TelevisaUnivision team have created a strong multi-platform media business with world-class quality and breadth of entertainment, news and sports programming. I look forward to working with our global teams and partners to build on TelevisaUnivision’s great history and take the Company to new heights,” Alegre said in a statement.

Wade Davis acquired Univision in late December 2020, in partnership with Searchlight Capital. Four months later, Univision bought Grupo Televisa’s content assets in a $4.8 billion transaction that created TelevisaUnivision.

The deal combined two of the largest media companies serving the two largest Spanish-speaking markets in the world: Univision in the United States, the largest Spanish-language media market by value, and Televisa in Mexico, the most populous Spanish-language market in the world.

Wade stayed on after the deal closed as the new company’s CEO, though Televisa became the largest shareholder.