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Headline, Industry News
Rogers sets up committee for CEO search
Thursday December 04th 2008With the death of Ted Rogers, the reins that control Rogers Communications Inc. will for now remain in the hands of Alan Horn who has been serving as acting chief executive officer since the beginning of last month.
Mr. Horn, 56, has been chairman of RCI, the cable TV, wireless, sports and media conglomerate that Mr. Rogers built, since 2006. He was appointed acting CEO when the ailing Mr. Rogers, 75, was hospitalized.
The Toronto company said Tuesday that its board of directors will set up a special committee to lead a search for a successor to Mr. Rogers and that both internal and external candidates will be considered — although the late founder said in a recent autobiography that he would prefer his successor come from within the company. The company did not give any timetable for the process, and spokeswoman Jan Innes said dates have not yet been set.
In the meantime, RCI said, Mr. Horn will continue as acting CEO and lead the company’s “office of the president.”
Mr. Horn, a Scottish-born tax specialist and chartered accountant who has a degree in mathematics, was recruited by Mr. Rogers in 1990 to run the family holding company. Six years later, he was appointed RCI’s chief financial officer, a post he held for a decade, before being elevated to a director of the public company and chairman of its board.
Mr. Rogers did not publicly designate an heir during his lifetime.
However, the people most frequently named as likely top candidates to succeed him are his son Edward, 39, president of RCI’s cable division; daughter Melinda, 37, senior vice-president of strategy and development; and Nadir Mohamed, 52, president and chief operating officer of the communications division, responsible for the cable, wireless and telephone businesses. All three also are members of RCI’s board of directors.
Mr. Mohamed joined the company in 2000 and ran Rogers Wireless during some of the unit’s most aggressive growth, including the acquisition of the independent wireless carrier Microcell Telecommunications.
However, some analysts also figure Mr. Mohamed’s most serious competitor may be RCI chief financial officer Bill Linton, 54.
Mr. Linton, who is not on the RCI board, rejoined the company in 2005 when it took over Call-Net Enterprises Inc., which he was running as president and CEO. He had previously worked at RCI for about 16 years, from 1978 to 1994, and is said to be close to the Rogers family.
Analyst Dvai Ghose at Genuity Capital Markets warned in a note to clients that “there is some risk that if [Mr. Nadir] is not chosen as CEO, he could decide to leave the company.”
Mr. Rogers has established a trust to ensure the company stays in his family’s control and a special board committee to select a new leader.
The trust will take controlling ownership of the Rogers empire to ensure that the company does not get broken up. Mr. Rogers saw his mother lose control of a prosperous family business after his father’s untimely death and has vowed that his family will not face the same crisis.
The trust will have 15 advisers, including Mr. Rogers’ wife and four children, and has checks and balances that Mr. Rogers has compared to the U.S. system of federal government.
Analyst John Henderson at Scotia Capital Markets said Tuesday that whoever succeeds Mr. Rogers will be taking over the reins of a company that is in “excellent” shape.
“He’s left it with a larger market cap than BCE, with a stronger balance sheet and a higher growth profile,” Mr. Henderson said, alluding to Bell Canada’s corporate parent and an arch foe of RCI which Mr. Rogers once famously accused of practising “Soviet-style communications monopolism.”
Mr. Ghose at Genuity expressed similar views.
“Ted Rogers has left behind an industrial strength company with an enticing asset mix and an investment grade balance sheet,” he said in his note to clients. “RCI is arguably in the strongest fundamental position in its history . . . with net debt at only 2.1 times [long-term] EBITDA, an investment grade rating, $1.8-billion of addressable liquidity and no major debt maturities until 2011.”
Source: The Globe and Mail
Headline, Industry News
Rogers sets up committee for CEO search
Thursday December 04th 2008With the death of Ted Rogers, the reins that control Rogers Communications Inc. will for now remain in the hands of Alan Horn who has been serving as acting chief executive officer since the beginning of last month.
Mr. Horn, 56, has been chairman of RCI, the cable TV, wireless, sports and media conglomerate that Mr. Rogers built, since 2006. He was appointed acting CEO when the ailing Mr. Rogers, 75, was hospitalized.
The Toronto company said Tuesday that its board of directors will set up a special committee to lead a search for a successor to Mr. Rogers and that both internal and external candidates will be considered — although the late founder said in a recent autobiography that he would prefer his successor come from within the company. The company did not give any timetable for the process, and spokeswoman Jan Innes said dates have not yet been set.
In the meantime, RCI said, Mr. Horn will continue as acting CEO and lead the company’s “office of the president.”
Mr. Horn, a Scottish-born tax specialist and chartered accountant who has a degree in mathematics, was recruited by Mr. Rogers in 1990 to run the family holding company. Six years later, he was appointed RCI’s chief financial officer, a post he held for a decade, before being elevated to a director of the public company and chairman of its board.
Mr. Rogers did not publicly designate an heir during his lifetime.
However, the people most frequently named as likely top candidates to succeed him are his son Edward, 39, president of RCI’s cable division; daughter Melinda, 37, senior vice-president of strategy and development; and Nadir Mohamed, 52, president and chief operating officer of the communications division, responsible for the cable, wireless and telephone businesses. All three also are members of RCI’s board of directors.
Mr. Mohamed joined the company in 2000 and ran Rogers Wireless during some of the unit’s most aggressive growth, including the acquisition of the independent wireless carrier Microcell Telecommunications.
However, some analysts also figure Mr. Mohamed’s most serious competitor may be RCI chief financial officer Bill Linton, 54.
Mr. Linton, who is not on the RCI board, rejoined the company in 2005 when it took over Call-Net Enterprises Inc., which he was running as president and CEO. He had previously worked at RCI for about 16 years, from 1978 to 1994, and is said to be close to the Rogers family.
Analyst Dvai Ghose at Genuity Capital Markets warned in a note to clients that “there is some risk that if [Mr. Nadir] is not chosen as CEO, he could decide to leave the company.”
Mr. Rogers has established a trust to ensure the company stays in his family’s control and a special board committee to select a new leader.
The trust will take controlling ownership of the Rogers empire to ensure that the company does not get broken up. Mr. Rogers saw his mother lose control of a prosperous family business after his father’s untimely death and has vowed that his family will not face the same crisis.
The trust will have 15 advisers, including Mr. Rogers’ wife and four children, and has checks and balances that Mr. Rogers has compared to the U.S. system of federal government.
Analyst John Henderson at Scotia Capital Markets said Tuesday that whoever succeeds Mr. Rogers will be taking over the reins of a company that is in “excellent” shape.
“He’s left it with a larger market cap than BCE, with a stronger balance sheet and a higher growth profile,” Mr. Henderson said, alluding to Bell Canada’s corporate parent and an arch foe of RCI which Mr. Rogers once famously accused of practising “Soviet-style communications monopolism.”
Mr. Ghose at Genuity expressed similar views.
“Ted Rogers has left behind an industrial strength company with an enticing asset mix and an investment grade balance sheet,” he said in his note to clients. “RCI is arguably in the strongest fundamental position in its history . . . with net debt at only 2.1 times [long-term] EBITDA, an investment grade rating, $1.8-billion of addressable liquidity and no major debt maturities until 2011.”
Source: The Globe and Mail
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Headline, Industry News
Rogers sets up committee for CEO search
Thursday December 04th 2008With the death of Ted Rogers, the reins that control Rogers Communications Inc. will for now remain in the hands of Alan Horn who has been serving as acting chief executive officer since the beginning of last month.
Mr. Horn, 56, has been chairman of RCI, the cable TV, wireless, sports and media conglomerate that Mr. Rogers built, since 2006. He was appointed acting CEO when the ailing Mr. Rogers, 75, was hospitalized.
The Toronto company said Tuesday that its board of directors will set up a special committee to lead a search for a successor to Mr. Rogers and that both internal and external candidates will be considered — although the late founder said in a recent autobiography that he would prefer his successor come from within the company. The company did not give any timetable for the process, and spokeswoman Jan Innes said dates have not yet been set.
In the meantime, RCI said, Mr. Horn will continue as acting CEO and lead the company’s “office of the president.”
Mr. Horn, a Scottish-born tax specialist and chartered accountant who has a degree in mathematics, was recruited by Mr. Rogers in 1990 to run the family holding company. Six years later, he was appointed RCI’s chief financial officer, a post he held for a decade, before being elevated to a director of the public company and chairman of its board.
Mr. Rogers did not publicly designate an heir during his lifetime.
However, the people most frequently named as likely top candidates to succeed him are his son Edward, 39, president of RCI’s cable division; daughter Melinda, 37, senior vice-president of strategy and development; and Nadir Mohamed, 52, president and chief operating officer of the communications division, responsible for the cable, wireless and telephone businesses. All three also are members of RCI’s board of directors.
Mr. Mohamed joined the company in 2000 and ran Rogers Wireless during some of the unit’s most aggressive growth, including the acquisition of the independent wireless carrier Microcell Telecommunications.
However, some analysts also figure Mr. Mohamed’s most serious competitor may be RCI chief financial officer Bill Linton, 54.
Mr. Linton, who is not on the RCI board, rejoined the company in 2005 when it took over Call-Net Enterprises Inc., which he was running as president and CEO. He had previously worked at RCI for about 16 years, from 1978 to 1994, and is said to be close to the Rogers family.
Analyst Dvai Ghose at Genuity Capital Markets warned in a note to clients that “there is some risk that if [Mr. Nadir] is not chosen as CEO, he could decide to leave the company.”
Mr. Rogers has established a trust to ensure the company stays in his family’s control and a special board committee to select a new leader.
The trust will take controlling ownership of the Rogers empire to ensure that the company does not get broken up. Mr. Rogers saw his mother lose control of a prosperous family business after his father’s untimely death and has vowed that his family will not face the same crisis.
The trust will have 15 advisers, including Mr. Rogers’ wife and four children, and has checks and balances that Mr. Rogers has compared to the U.S. system of federal government.
Analyst John Henderson at Scotia Capital Markets said Tuesday that whoever succeeds Mr. Rogers will be taking over the reins of a company that is in “excellent” shape.
“He’s left it with a larger market cap than BCE, with a stronger balance sheet and a higher growth profile,” Mr. Henderson said, alluding to Bell Canada’s corporate parent and an arch foe of RCI which Mr. Rogers once famously accused of practising “Soviet-style communications monopolism.”
Mr. Ghose at Genuity expressed similar views.
“Ted Rogers has left behind an industrial strength company with an enticing asset mix and an investment grade balance sheet,” he said in his note to clients. “RCI is arguably in the strongest fundamental position in its history . . . with net debt at only 2.1 times [long-term] EBITDA, an investment grade rating, $1.8-billion of addressable liquidity and no major debt maturities until 2011.”
Source: The Globe and Mail
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