Discovery appointed Neil Chugani as chief financial officer and head of strategy and operations for its direct-to-consumer business. Chugani will be based in London, and he will report to Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels. In the newly created role, Chugani will work closely with Peter Faricy, CEO of Discovery’s global direct-to-consumer business.
Prior to joining Discovery, Chugani was at Google since 2015 where he most recently served as CFO for the business and operations of Google and YouTube in Europe, Middle East and Africa. As a member of the Google EMEA Management Group, he played a key role in driving the doubling of revenue in the region over the last five years. He was previously Group CFO at BBC Worldwide, the commercial and international arm of the BBC. He also held senior executive positions at Sky and was a technology and media banker at Goldman Sachs.
At Discovery, Chugani will be responsible for formulating and implementing the financial strategy that will allow Discovery to reach its ambitious growth objectives in the direct-to-consumer space. He will work with all of Discovery’s direct-to-consumer business units, both in the U.S. and international markets to create consistent strategic and financial practices.
“Neil is a highly respected digital finance leader, whose experience and skills will help us further accelerate our strategic pivot as we make our great content and brands available to our passionate fans across all platforms around the world,” said Wiedenfels in a statement.
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