Wade Davis is officially Univision’s new CEO. He takes over the reins from Vince Sadusky, who led the company since mid-2018, when he replaced Randy Falco.
The leadership change comes as a result of the FCC approval, which paved the way for completion of the sale of a majority stake in Univision Holdings, Inc. by investment groups Searchlight Capital Partners, LP and ForgeLight LLC.
Davis, a former Viacom CFO, is the CEO and founder of ForgeLight.
As part of the deal, Televisa will hold on to its ownership interest in Univision and convert its warrants into common stock. Televisa will also maintain its Program License Agreement.
The transaction, which was first reported in February 2020, was finalized December 29, date Davis effectively took over his leadership role at Univision.
The investor group led by Searchlight and ForgeLight, purchased an approximately 64% ownership interest in Univision from Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, TPG, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Saban Capital Group. Televisa retained its approximate 36% stake in Univision’s fully diluted equity capital.
The FCC ruling also granted the buyers’ petition to allow increasing foreign ownership beyond the long-time established 25% cap. The decision actually allows Univision foreign ownership to reach 100%, which now gives Televisa room to grow its stake in the company in the future.
According to the company, Univision’s new leadership team plans to use its existing platforms and “pipeline of entertainment, sports and news content to deepen its relationship with the Hispanic community” and will “seek new opportunities to innovate and accelerate growth by creating new market-defining content for the next generation of Hispanic viewers, expanding its portfolio of advertising products and enhancing its digital presence.”