Schibsted CEO reveals new management team

(Oslo, 19 December 2018) This morning, Kristin Skogen Lund, new CEO at Schibsted as of December 1st, announced her leadership team.

"The new organization will reflect both Schibsted's three business areas and the Group's foundation which serves as an enabler of long-term business growth. Our goal is that our leading marketplaces, growth initiatives and digital publishing operations will increasingly realize synergies, which will help us further develop value-creation for society, customers and shareholders," says Kristin Skogen Lund.

Skogen Lund has defined three business areas:

• Nordic Marketplaces; will be led by Anders Skoe, CEO of FINN and asset owner for Blocket (Sweden) and Tori (Finland).
• Publishing; will be led by Siv Juvik Tveitnes, previously Head of Publishing operations in the Media Division.
• Schibsted Next (Venture investments, Personal Finance, organic growth initiatives incl Distribution); will be led by Raoul Grünthal, previously CEO Schibsted Media. Grünthal will, in addition, have a functional role with the responsibility of boosting growth and entrepreneurship across the company.

In addition to the business areas and functions, the company will establish an informal geographical structure in each of its main markets to ensure revenue synergies and the strengthening of Schibsted's market position in Sweden and Norway, respectively. Kristin Skogen Lund will act as country manager in Norway and Raoul Grünthal will be country manager in Sweden.

To support the business cluster leaders, Skogen Lund has appointed functional leaders in three areas:

• Trond Berger continues in Skogen Lunds management team as Chief Financial Officer. Berger has been with Schibsted ASA almost 20 years, and thus represents valuable continuity.
• Mette Krogsrud, who has previously worked in Schibsted (2005-2010) joins the company from the position as Managing Director of Korn Ferry in Norway. As Chief People & Corporate Affairs Officer, she will take a driving role within HR, Communications and Public Policy, supporting and driving the culture building across business units. Krogsrud will be joining the company early spring 2019.
• In addition, a process for appointing a Chief Data & Technology Officer is currently being finalized. The role will be given responsibility and development on shared platforms, with a particular focus on data management.

Schibsted will continue to deepen its customer relationships through leading consumer brands and leverage its ability to collect and process data to develop its consumer and advertising offerings. "Schibsted has a solid and rapidly growing portfolio of digital consumer offerings, that empower people in their daily lives. The Nordics is a digital front-runner region, and as such an optimal venture lab to test new digital and disruptive offerings. I am confident that our new leadership team will succeed in creating growth for Schibsted in the next decades," says Skogen Lund.

Schibsted to spin off international marketplaces
In September, the Board of Directors of Schibsted ASA announced that the company's Marketplaces operations outside of the Nordics will be spun off and established as an independent, listed company (preliminarily named Marketplaces International/MPI). Schibsted will continue to be a Nordic group of leading digital consumer brands, comprising our publishing operations and growth companies in Norway and Sweden as well as the marketplaces FINN, Blocket, and Tori.

Rolv Erik Ryssdal, CEO of Schibsted Media Group since 2009, continues as CEO of the new company MPI, that will be a publicly listed stand-alone company. The first day of trading is targeted in April 2019. Schibsted will remain the largest owner of MPI and plans to retain a 60 per cent ownership at the time of the listing, after selling down up to five per cent in the market and distributing 35 per cent of the MPI shares to Schibsted's shareholders. 

Contact information:
For media:
Nathalie Kåvin, Director of Communications. Schibsted Media Group, Tel: +47 934 01 363, e-mail: nathalie.kavin@schibsted.com

For investors/analysts:
Jo Christian Steigedal, VP Head of IR. Tel: +47 415 08 733, email: jcs@schibsted.com

About Schibsted
Schibsted Media Group is an international media group with 8000 employees in 22 countries. 200 million people around the world interact with Schibsted's popular digital services through our media houses, our digital marketplaces and our growth companies.

In 2019, our Marketplaces operations outside of the Nordics will be spun off and established as an independent, listed company. Schibsted will continue to be a company of leading digital consumer brands with footprint in the Nordics.

For more information, check out our website www.schibsted.com