Liberty Media, the US media giant, has named veteran media, sports, and entertainment executive Derek Chang as its new president and chief executive to replace Greg Maffei.
Chang, who has been a director of Liberty Media since March 2021, will start in his new role on February 1. Chairman John Malone will serve as interim CEO until that time.
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Chang will join the executive committee of the Liberty Media board with Malone, vice chairman Dob Bennett, and Chase Carey.
Additionally, Stefano Domenicali, president and CEO of Formula 1, will report to a committee of the Liberty Media board comprised of Bennett, Carey, and Chang.
In his career, Chang has led operating, corporate development, and investment teams at major sports and media organizations including EverPass Media, basketball’s NBA, DirecTV, Scripps, Charter, and TCI.
Malone has said: “Derek’s expertise in both operating and investment roles, extensive understanding of our industries, and familiarity with Liberty make him the ideal leader for Liberty’s next chapter.
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By GlobalData“Personally, I have worked with Derek for over 25 years and am consistently impressed by his leadership style, breadth of expertise, and global perspective. I look forward to supporting him and the Liberty management team as they continue to drive shareholder value.”
In November, Maffei announced he would step down as Liberty’s president and CEO at the end of 2024, ending a 19-year tenure.
He is, however, serving as a senior advisor to support the management transition.
Under Maffei’s leadership, Liberty Media has significantly grown its media, sports, and entertainment assets.
Most recently, the company acquired Dorna Sports, the commercial rightsholder and organizer of motorcycling’s premier MotoGP series.
Chang’s most recent role was as executive chairman of EverPass Media, a joint venture he co-founded with Alex Kaplan in partnership with American football’s NFL and RedBird Capital Partners to create a new platform for the distribution of premium sports content into commercial establishments.
He will be stepping down as executive chairman but remain on the board of EverPass Media.
Chang was the CEO of NBA China from 2018 to 2020 and previously held various leadership roles at Scripps Network Interactive from 2013 to 2018. Prior to Scripps, he spent seven years at DirecTV and was at Charter Communications from 2003 to 2005. He has also held senior executive positions with the YES Network and TCI Communications.
Chang said: “I have had the privilege of working with John Malone and the Liberty team for many years during my time at TCI and DirecTV and later as a board member of Starz and Liberty, and I have long admired their track record of value creation for investors and partners.
“Our current focus is clear: optimizing the portfolio structure with the split-off of Liberty Live and supporting the growth of our attractive operating assets, including F1 and MotoGP post-acquisition, to continue their momentum and invest for the future.
“Looking further, Liberty has always been long-term minded in its investment mandate yet nimble to move quickly on new opportunities. Both of these things will remain true in our strategy going forward.”
Late last year, Liberty Media announced it will split off its Liberty Live Group into a separate public entity.
Following the split-off, Liberty Media will be an independent, asset-backed company holding its motorsport businesses and related sports investments.
