Star Media Group names new CEO

Star Media Group has appointed Alex Yeow Wai Siaw as its new group CEO. In a memo seen by A+M, it is stated that Yeow, will take on the role come March. He was formerly the group CEO and executive director of Tropicana Corp, and brings with him vast experience and knowledge from his working experience.

His corporate experience has seen him helm other listed companies on Bursa Malaysia where he was previously the managing director at Guocoland Malaysia and chief executive at Malaysian Mosaics. His corporate experience also saw him serve in top management roles at Lafarge Malayan Cement and Hap Seng Consolidated.

Yeow also had an earlier tenure with consultancy McKinsey & Co gave him the experience in serving many corporate clients and government-linked companies in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. With his appointment on March 1, SMG’s temporary special committee comprising three board members, namely Fu Ah Kiow, Mohd Aminuddin Mohd Rouse and Chan Seng Fatt, will be disbanded with immediate effect.

The appointment comes almost a year after adland veteran Andreas Vogiatzakis  stepped down from the role. Vogiatzakis joined the media conglomerate from Havas Malaysia where he served as CEO for three years. He also served as CEO of Omnicom Media Group Malaysia for close to 10 years.

The group has also had an overall tough year in 2020 where it embarked on a retrenchment exercise after its recent mutual separation scheme (MSS) "did not yield the expected headcount reduction that would have helped the Group cushion the impact of the sustained soft business," CFO Sam Au said in an internal memo seen by A+M.

As such, the retrenchment exercise was done to meet its intended staff cost reduction targets and will commence in the fourth quarter. The move came as a result of the constant disruptions to the media industry, mainly from digital elements, as well as due to the prolonged of COVID-19.