Karim Sarkis, the head of Abu Dhabi Media’s broadcast division, has resigned after almost four years in the role.
While the reasons behind his decision to leave are unknown, Sarkis’ exit is the latest in a spate of high-level departures at the media company. Since Ed Borgerding unexpectedly departed as CEO in February, both Ricky Ghai and Gavin Dickinson have also resigned their roles as executive director of digital media and executive publishing director, respectively, in order to pursue new challenges in the industry.
Borgerding’s departure saw Frank Mooty appointed interim caretaker CEO until Malcolm Wall joined Abu Dhabi Media (ADM) at the beginning of September.
An ongoing corporate restructure has also seen a corporate rebrand and two rounds of redundancies at the region’s largest media company, effectively reducing its staffing levels by 20 per cent. A review of its broadcast division resulted in job losses in the summer, with an unknown number of staff being made redundant, although it was believed to be less than 100. These job losses were enacted in an effort to streamline the organisation and make it more commercially viable.
Abu Dhabi Media was established in 2007 and has interests in free and pay television, radio, publishing, digital media, games, feature films, music, digital signage, outside broadcast/production, and printing.
