Kevin Mayer, formerly of Disney, has taken over from the departing John Skipper

Kevin Mayer DAZN

DAZN has appointed Kevin Mayer as its chairman of the board of directors, replacing former incumbent John Skipper.

Mayer was chairman of direct-to-consumer and international at Disney before this appointment, and has over 30 years’ experience in the industry. This includes also being chief strategic officer at Disney, and driving the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 21st Century Fox and BamTech.

As chairman of direct-to-consumer and international, Mayer ran Disney’s streaming businesses Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and Hotstar, and so should have experience in the area as DAZN looks to grow following it global launch. He also oversaw Disney’s global advertising sales, content sales, channels sales and international operations.

Mayer replaces John Skipper, who has been at DAZN since 2018. Skipper is stepping down to concentrate on newly launched content company Meadowlark Media, but will stay on the DAZN Group board of directors and act as a strategic adviser to the company.

DAZN hopes to invest in and collaborate with Meadowlark on original programming.

Skipper said: “I’m incredibly proud of what the team has accomplished over the past several years. We’ve secured rights to the world’s premier sports leagues, dramatically increased subscriptions and revenues, and launched our platform in more than 200 countries and territories.

“It’s the ideal moment to transition the company into its next phase of growth. Having worked closely with Kevin at The Walt Disney Company for more than two decades, I can’t think of a better person to lead the DAZN Group Board of Directors.”

Mayer added: “Since I began working with Access Industries last year, I’ve been impressed with DAZN’s ambitions and ability to quickly grow from a new entrant to an important player in key markets throughout the world. I look forward to guiding DAZN’s strategic development into its next chapter.”