Munich, 15 October 2024 - After more than five years, Joachim Scheuenpflug is stepping down from his role as Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and, since 2023, also as Group Chief Operating Officer (COO) on 31 December 2024. He will be succeeded by Jens Mezger, who has also been Head of M&A and Finance at LEONINE Studios (a Mediawan Group company) since 2019 and will take over the role of CFO on 1 January 2025. Responsibility for the COO areas of IT and Real Estate will be bundled in the department of Chief People & Sustainability Officer, Sarah Fischer.

Fred Kogel, CEO of LEONINE Studios: "Joachim is not only an outstanding CFO in professional terms, he has also been an integral part of the consistent implementation of our strategy and our company's success over the past few years as a member of the management team. His unrivalled drive, his management qualities and his leadership are impressive. We would like to thank him sincerely for everything he has achieved. Our collaboration was both a motivation and a pleasure for me. I am now looking forward to working with Jens Mezger in his new role as CFO. Jens is also a proven finance expert who has already made a major contribution to LEONINE's success in recent years and, together with our existing team, will ensure continuity in all areas of finance."

As Group CFO, Joachim Scheuenpflug has been involved in the establishment of LEONINE Studios from the outset, which began with the merger of the Tele München Group and Universum Film and the acquisitions of i&u TV and Wiedemann & Berg Film in 2019. In addition to setting up the central and decentralised CFO units, he was responsible for numerous M&A transactions, the restructuring of Group financing, the establishment of Group-wide performance management and the professionalisation of IT and real estate. He played a key role in shaping the dynamic growth of LEONINE Studios into Germany's leading independent production, distribution and licensing group, which now comprises 9 integrated production companies, and the merger with Mediawan.

Joachim Scheuenpflug: "I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved with LEONINE. My thanks go to Fred for the trusting and cooperative partnership and to the entire team that has built up a German champion over the past few years. Following the successful merger of LEONINE and Mediawan and the structured handover to Jens as an excellent successor from within our own ranks, who can build on an outstanding LEONINE CFO team, the time is right for me to seek new challenges."

Jens Mezger, CFO LEONINE Studios: "I am very pleased about the trust placed in me, about my new area of responsibility and, above all, about continuing to work with my great colleagues. With our professional structures, we will ensure that LEONINE continues to be perfectly positioned for the challenges of the turbulent market environment."

Jens Mezger studied business administration at the University of Bayreuth and the Universidad de los Andes (Chile) and began his career in 2011 at the investment bank Nomura in Frankfurt. After holding positions at ProSiebenSat.1 in Munich and the Lonza Group in Basel (Switzerland), he joined LEONINE Studios in 2019 following the company's foundation, where he was most recently responsible for M&A and finance.

About LEONINE Studios

LEONINE Studios is one of Germany's leading independent media companies - the one-stop shop for premium content. We work with outstanding creative talent to create content that inspires audiences around the world.

Together, the LEONINE Studios companies produce, co-produce, distribute and licence premium content - covering the entire value chain of the content business. We produce films, series and content for social media - from entertainment to infotainment, from fiction to non-fiction.

LEONINE Studios' production companies are run by award-winning producers - including the premium production brands beetz brothers film production | hyperbole | i&u TV | Madame Zheng Production | Odeon Fiction | SEO Entertainment | W&B Television | Wiedemann & Berg Film | Toon2Tango.

LEONINE Studios distributes and licences content for cinemas, home entertainment, TV channels and social media channels. The market-leading licence library includes programmes of all formats and genres.

LEONINE Studios is independent and offers premium content to all players in the media industry.

Press contact

Henriette Gutmann

SVP Corporate Communication & Sales Marketing, LEONINE Studios

Tel: +49 89 999 513-0

e-mail: communication@leoninestudios.com

LEONINE Holding GmbH - Taunusstr. 21 - 80807 Munich - Limited liability company - Registered office: Munich - Munich Local Court HRB 246 195 - Management: Fred Kogel (Chairman), Quirin Berg, Sarah Fischer, Joachim Scheuenpflug, Max Wiedemann, Bernhard zu Castell - UID no. DE 323 800 450