Ron Meyer, former NBCUniversal vice chair, to lead European film company Wild Bunch
Former NBCUniversal Vice Chair Ron Meyer will lead Wild Bunch AG, a European film distribution and production services company.
Global investment firm Tennor Group on Monday announced Meyer’s appointment as chief executive of Wild Bunch AG.
He will be teamed with Sophie Jordan, a former general counsel at beIN Media Group. Jordan’s title will be co-chief executive.
“We are confident that Ron and Sophie’s extensive experience and vast network of industry relationships will help shepherd Wild Bunch to be a leader of premium content in 2022,” Lars Windhorst, CEO of Tennor Group, said in a statement.
Last month, Meyer struck a confidential settlement of up to $15 million with NBCUniversal. The deal came 14 months after the Comcast Corp.-owned media giant ousted Meyer from his post as NBCUniversal vice chairman after he disclosed that he had made payments to cover up an old affair.
The sex scandal involved British-born actress Charlotte Kirk, who briefly dated Meyer about a decade ago, The Times has previously reported. Meyer’s sudden exit appeared to derail the 50-year career of one of Hollywood’s most popular moguls.
Kirk had minor roles in the movies “Ocean’s 8” and “How to Be Single.” She also had a brief relationship with former Warner Bros. studio head Kevin Tsujihara, who resigned in 2019 after the publication of text messages that suggested he would help Kirk find acting jobs.
Meyer had spent a quarter-century in senior leadership positions at Universal, including as head of Universal Studios. Before that, he was a founding partner at Hollywood talent agency CAA with Michael Ovitz and others.
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Wild Bunch AG was formed in 2015 by a merger of the German entertainment company Senator Entertainment AG and the European film distribution company Wild Bunch SA.
The company, which is based in Berlin and Paris, has about 125 employees and a film library of about 2,500 titles. The company’s website said it had facilitated the international distribution of a number of well-received films, including “The Artist,” “Blue is the Warmest Color,” “Fahrenheit 9/11,” “The King’s Speech,” “March of the Penguins,” “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Sin City.”
“When we were approached by Lars Windhorst we were beyond impressed with his vision and understanding of what Wild Bunch needed in order to grow,” Meyer said in a statement.
Tennor Group’s announcement said Meyer and Jordan would “utilize additional financial resources on strategic acquisitions of other businesses to help Wild Bunch expand its domestic and international presence in production and distribution.”
Vincent Grimond, current CEO of Wild Bunch, is expected to stay on in an advisory capacity to help with the leadership transition.
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