MBC Group reshuffles senior management

Sam Barnett will take back role of group chief executive, after retiring from company at end of last year

Sam Barnett will come back of Group CEO of MBC after retiring in December last year.  Jeff Topping/The National

Media conglomerate MBC Group has made three senior appointments, including a new chief executive and two board members.

Majid Al Ibrahim has been appointed board representative at MBC Group to assess, oversee and organise the implementation of new initiatives, the company said on Wednesday.

Mr Al Ibrahim has been on the board since September 2018 and has been a founding board member for the planned Saudi city of Neom’s media sector since March last year.

Sam Barnett has been reappointed group chief executive, succeeding Marc Antoine d’Halluin who was made an adviser to the board.

Mr Barnett, from the UK, spent more than 17 years at MBC Group and was previously chief executive until the end of December 2019, when he resigned.

In February, the MBC Group signed an agreement to set up new headquarters in Riyadh and plans to begin operations from Saudi Arabia’s capital within five years.

The company offers TV and broadcast channels to about 180 million viewers across the Middle East and North Africa.

Its online platforms offer content ranging from news to entertainment. It owns news channels including Al Hadath, Al Arabiya and Al Arabiya English.

The broadcaster behind the hit show Arabs Got Talent  was launched in London in 1991 and it later moved its base to Dubai Media City in the UAE.