In a surprise executive reshuffle, Tony Vinciquerra, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, will step down from his position as CEO on January 2, 2025. Ravi Ahuja, current Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer of SPE’s Global Television Studios, will succeed him. President and CEO of SPE.
Mr. Ahuja will report to Kenichiro Yoshida, Chairman and CEO of Sony Group Corporation, and Hiroki Totoki, President, COO and CFO of Sony Group Corporation. Mr. Vincichella will remain in an advisory role to SPE as non-executive chairman until the end of December 2025.
The news comes after Sony Pictures Entertainment, along with Apollo, embarked on a $26 billion acquisition of Paramount Global last summer. Despite Sony losing Paramount to Skydance, that’s not the reason for Vinciquerra’s departure. Rather, we hear that succession plans have been in place for the past two and a half years. One sign of what lies ahead is Ahuja’s promotion to president and COO last March. Mr. Vinciquerra hired Mr. Ahuja as CFO in 2007 while CEO of Fox Networks Group, and the former became Mr. Ahuja’s mentor. Mr. Vincichella brought Ahuja to SPE three years ago with the intention of eventually leading the company.
Vinciquerra praised Ahuja to Deadline today, saying, “He has a very good EQ and IQ. He’s a lot smarter than I am. And he’s a lot better at relationships than I am. .”
Mr. Vinciquerra came out of retirement to join Sony in June 2017 after the company’s Culver City campus was ravaged by North Korean hacking. Vincichella made it his job to restore the studio’s cards. He primarily stopped Sony from turning it into a streamer. That strategy cost Sony Pictures Television billions of dollars in losses competing with movie studios, but it also pivoted Sony Pictures Television from broadcasting to becoming a streaming content supplier. Ta.
Or, as Sony executives proudly coin Conglom, Content is an “arms dealer.”
It’s a strategy that has proven powerful even during the pandemic, when rivals have fallen prey to streaming’s temptations, and Vincichella has taken Sony from a hot acquisition target pre-pandemic to a playground tycoon. It proved to be powerful even during the double attack to grow it. There is also the possibility that it will compete with major studios like Paramount Global. Sony has been coveting Paramount’s Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, and Transformers IP, but the company is a Japanese-owned conglomerate, and the administration of President Joe Biden is unfriendly to M&A. was a significant obstacle in the marriage of Culver City and Melrose Avenue. a lot.
Consider the proven “arms dealer” business model for Sony’s future.
“There’s a long tail there,” Vinciquerra told Deadline.
He explains: “When we made the decision not to go into general entertainment streaming, we also made the decision to go into genre-based streaming, which is where Funimation and Crunchyroll came from. But as a broadcast network 35 years ago, today We knew that there was no entertainment company in the world that could provide all the content needs needed to even compete as a streaming service. “We need outside creative forces to help us become a better player. I think this strategy will work as long as there are competitors for streaming services.”
SPE’s gains under Vincichella include a fifth consecutive year of profit growth from M&A in key growth areas, including special features, a reimagination of the TV business, and the acquisition of animated content brand Clancy Roll in 2021. That anime label should become one of Sony’s biggest businesses within the next two years. The label makes money with 15 million subscribers who pay as much as $9 each. Whether it’s a movie that made a big box office hit like “Dragon Ball Super Super Hero” (domestic box office revenue of $38.1 million) or a movie that had a low box office hit like “Spy x Family Code: White,” Theatrical movies are all gravy.
Vincichella’s other major accomplishments while on the run include breaking a feature film licensing deal with Netflix that is said to be worth $1 billion. The deal replaces Sony’s long-standing pay cable TV outlet with Starz. The terms included Netflix’s exclusive access to Sony movies for 18 months, as well as first looks at direct-to-stream titles. It was another example of the foresight about linear business, or gray clouds, that Vinciquerra discovered while running the 400 network at Fox.
Vinciquerra told Deadline: “The most important decision was to get out of the linear TV network business. When I came here, we had 110 cable networks, and we got out of most of them. It’s not like we have an albatross hanging around our necks like our competitors. Streaming is ultimately profitable, but linear channels’ business is not improving.”
The sale of Sony’s non-core businesses was also important during Vincichella’s management. That means selling a majority stake in the Crackle streaming service to Chicken Soup for the Soul in 2006 for a price of $65 million, and most of SPE’s international cable networks when the market opened. was sold. waste away. Crackle was hemorrhaging $35 million a year with a staff of 300 until Sony unloaded it on Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Sony Corporation recently reported a 10% increase in operating profit for its most recent first quarter, beating analyst expectations. Profit was $1.9 billion. Conglom’s stock, which has a market capitalization of more than $582 billion, hit a 52-week high on January 12. Sony Film Group’s box office revenue in 2023 will reach the $1 billion mark, an increase of 20% compared to 2022.
“SPE’s incredible turnaround over the past decade would not have been possible without Tony’s deep entertainment experience and expertise, strategic vision, and outstanding leadership,” Yoshida said in a statement. “Under Tony’s watch, SPE will become a critical part of our efforts to maximize the value of our IP and find synergies across all of our entertainment and technology businesses, with a further focus on creative sectors. continues to be a key driver of Sony Group’s ongoing corporate strategy’ and entertainment space. I would like to thank Tony for his many years of dedication and leadership at SPE and for his invaluable support to the entire group of companies during his successful career at Sony. ”
Yoshida further added, “Since joining SPE in 2021, Ravi has been a central part of Tony’s leadership team to navigate the unprecedented challenges of today’s media and entertainment environment and position SPE for further growth. Ravi brings years of experience from his time at some of the world’s most successful entertainment companies, and we look forward to working more closely with him in his new role as president and CEO of SPE. looking forward to it.”
“When I took on this role seven and a half years ago, I never imagined that I would be faced with the extraordinary disruption and opportunity in our industry,” Vinciquerra said. “I have tremendous gratitude for this exceptional company and its profound legacy in Hollywood history. I am continually inspired by my talented and determined colleagues. Together, we have achieved remarkable success and have consistently proven that this is a community built on passion and resilience, making the past seven and a half years the most fulfilling of my career. I would like to thank Mr. Kazuo Hirai for providing me with this opportunity in 2017, and Mr. Kenichiro Yoshida and Mr. Hiroki Totoki for their leadership and unwavering trust and support over the years. I have the utmost confidence in SPE’s continued growth and know that Ravi is the right leader to lead SPE forward.”
Mr. Ahuja will join SPE in 2021 as Chairman of Global Television Studios, overseeing all production operations of Sony Pictures Television (SPT) and the studio’s India operations. SPT and its production companies have produced The Crown, The Boys, Generation V, Cobra Kai, Better Call Saul, The Last of Us, Outlander, For All Mankind, The Night Agent, Twisted Metal, The Wheel of Time, SWAT, The Good Doctor, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Shark Tank, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, 90 Day Fiancé, Octonauts, SuperKitties, and more.
Mr. Ahuja also acquired dine-in exhibition company Alamo Drafthouse, award-winning non-fiction entertainment company Industrial Media, leading British production company Bad Wolf, VFX company Pixomondo, and sold GSN Games to Scopely. , has also overseen SPE’s M&A activities. . When it was announced in June that Sony would be acquiring Alamo during negotiations with Skydance, Wall Street was left scratching its head. But for Sony, it was a direct way to communicate with the nearly 5 million movie fans in the Alamo Drafthouse loyalty program.
Prior to joining SPE, Ahuja served as president of business operations and CFO for Walt Disney Television. Prior to joining Fox Networks as CFO in 2007, Ahuja spent eight years at Virgin Entertainment Group, Inc. in executive roles of increasing responsibility, ultimately becoming CFO. Prior to Virgin, he started his career in investment banking, working in consulting at McKinsey & Company.
“It is my privilege and honor to be at the helm of SPE,” said Ahuja. “This is a special place. It’s an iconic studio with a 100-year history of storytelling. Thanks to Tony’s outstanding leadership, we are leading our business with a clear strategy for the coming years. I am excited about the opportunities ahead and am fortunate to work alongside thousands of talented colleagues around the world at SPE and our sister companies. I am grateful to Tony for his guidance, guidance, and friendship over the decades, and I would like to thank Mr. Yoshida and Mr. Totoki for entrusting me with this important role.”
Even if Sony doesn’t buy Paramount, it doesn’t mean they’re getting out of the M&A business.
Regarding the future of the industry, Vincichella said: “Our business over the next 18 to 24 months is going to be very disrupted. But by the time the buying and selling is over, the companies that survive will be in very good shape.” You will be dealing with At the end of that chaotic era, the only thing we know is that the demand for entertainment will expand and increase, not decrease. It’s more stratified based on genre. It would be good business, and entertainment companies would be on a stronger financial footing. ”
