Tibère Adler leaves Edipresse

At its General Meeting on June 6, 2011, the Edipresse Group bid farewell to its Chief Executive Officer Tibère Adler, who will step down from his post at the end of June. Tibère Adler, 48, was appointed CEO of the Edipresse Group in February 2005, having worked with the company since early 1989.

Since 2009, a profound change in strategy has been brought about in the Edipresse Group, splitting the group into two divisions with distinctly different strategies, according to a statement Monday. In Switzerland, Edipresse and Tamedia have joined forces to carry out an operational merger of their entire press businesses, it said. In the other business areas, Edipresse intends to strengthen not only its own activities as a publisher of magazines, but also its Internet and real estate market business, it said. The date originally set for the implementation of these business objectives had been set for the end of 2012.

This strategic development phase has now been completed, the statement continues. In Switzerland, Tamedia succeeded in anticipating the upturn in its business activities as a publisher of daily newspapers in April 2011. In the other business areas, the Edipresse Group had already been able to operate in the black in 2010. In addition, Lamunière SA had launched its public share purchase offer for the remaining share capital of Edipresse-SA. This is intended to create a purely family-owned company and to forego a stock exchange listing in Switzerland. Tibère Adler had contributed in a fundamental way to the implementation of this strategy. He is leaving the Group in harmony with the Board of Directors and the shareholders. He leaves behind a solid company that stands on a healthy foundation.

Reorganization of corporate management

As a result of this personnel movement, the management of Edipresse will be reorganized as of July 1, 2011. Pierre Lamunière, Chairman and Executive Director, will henceforth assume general management of the company. The current Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Michel Preiswerk will assume expanded functions as Chief Operating Officer (COO). The rest of the General Management will remain unchanged.

Tibère Adler will continue to be associated with Edipresse on the basis of mandates or missions - especially in Asia. Furthermore, Tibère Adler will initially focus on managing his portfolio of mandates on various boards of directors, including the board of Tamedia. In parallel, he will continue to pursue his own projects, such as his activities as a mentor to entrepreneurs or top managers, as well as personal investments. Most notably, as of September 1, 2011, he will take over as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Digital Luxury Group, DLG S.A. (formerly IC-Agency), a Geneva-based company that is at the forefront of the digital marketing business (especially on social networks) for luxury brands. He is also a shareholder in the company.

(Image: Keystone; Caption: Pierre Lamunière (left), Tibère Adler (right))