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Univision Is Said to Be Planning to Name Sadusky as Next CEO

Univision Is Said to Be Planning to Name Vincent Sadusky as CEO

(Bloomberg) -- Univision Holdings Inc. is planning to name industry veteran Vince Sadusky as the Spanish-language broadcaster’s next chief executive officer, according to a person with knowledge of the move, filling a role that’s being vacated by Randy Falco.

Sadusky served as CEO of Media General Inc. until last year and put in a long stint as chief financial officer of Telemundo Communications Group Inc. The person familiar with the move asked not to be identified because the hiring hasn’t been publicly announced.

Univision, based in New York, declined to comment.

Sadusky will step in after Univision scrapped plans in March for an initial public offering, leaving the company at a crossroads. Falco also announced that month that he would retire after seven years as CEO.

In lieu of an IPO, Univision has been tightening its belt. The company plans to cut more than $100 million in expenses this year, Bloomberg reported in March.

Though Univision has been a fixture in U.S. Spanish-speaking households for decades, it’s facing tougher competition. Its chief rival, Comcast Corp.’s Telemundo, will show the World Cup this year, potentially drawing viewers and advertising dollars away from Univision. And the fees that Univision pays Mexican broadcaster Grupo Televisa SAB for programming are climbing.

IPO Attempt

Univision’s backers have included Televisa, Thomas H. Lee Partners and TPG. The company filed to go public in July 2015 and was aiming to list its shares in the second half of 2016. Univision was seeking a market value of more than $6.5 billion for the equity portion of the company, people familiar with the matter said at the time.

Univision also spurned a $13 billion-plus merger offer from Discovery Communications Inc. last year, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Discovery, part of media mogul John Malone’s portfolio, went on to buy Scripps Networks Interactive Inc.

--With assistance from Gerry Smith.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nabila Ahmed in New York at nahmed54@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net

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