Eugenio Lopez III is stepping down as chairman of ABS-CBN Corp. after two decades at the helm of the leading broadcast company as a part of the company’s digital pivot.
Lopez, more popularly known as Gabby, was elected as chairman emeritus during the company’s organization meeting, while his 45-year-old cousin Martin Lopez was elected chairman of the board.
Gabby, who turned 65 in August and is the second chairman emeritus in the company’s history, will remain as a director of the board. His father Eugenio Lopez Jr. – fondly known as Kapitan Geny – was given the same title after Gabby was elected chairman in 1997.
“As every athlete knows, there comes a time when inevitably it’s time to let go of the reins and allow others to take over. My father has always said ‘broadcasting’ is for the young. After all, today’s digital world is vastly different from the world I managed,” Gabby said in a speech after the ABS-CBN annual stockholders’ meeting.
He also said that he “will not disappear into the woodwork.”
Gabby, who also served as chief executive of ABS-CBN from 1997 to 2012, is credited with steadily transforming ABS-CBN from being the country’s biggest broadcasting network into being the country’s leading media and entertainment company.
Under his leadership, ABS-CBN diversified into various successful ventures that included interactive and online media, international and domestic cable and satellite channels, broadband services, sports programming, consumer products and licensing, digital TV and immersive experiences.
It was also under his leadership that ABS-CBN launched cable TV service SkyCable, global subscription channel The Filipino Channel and video-on-demand streaming sites TFC.tv and iWant TV. He also pursued the launch of ABS-CBN TVplus, the country’s first-ever digital terrestrial television product.
“I accept this huge responsibility of carrying on the company’s vision of being in the service of the Filipino – using the blueprint of excellence and innovation set by Gabby. ABS-CBN has played an instrumental role in nation-building in the past 65 years. We understand what the company means to the Filipino and this country, and we will take this to heart as we guide the company through its digital transformation,” said Mark, who was identified as a successor as early as five years ago.
Mark, who was the chief technology officer before the appointment, was responsible for setting the company’s strategic directions and ensuring operational excellence in information and communications, as well as technology broadcast engineering.
He spearheaded ABS-CBN’s system modernization, highlighted by the migration to the cloud and the automation of content creation and delivery to various media platforms. He was also responsible for ABS-CBN’s migration to HD and the completion of the digital terrestrial television infrastructure.
Prior to joining ABS-CBN, Mark spent 13 years at Manila Electric Co., the largest power distribution company in the country, where he eventually assumed the role of vice president and chief information officer and concurrent to his role as CIO, he also served as the president of e-Meralco Ventures, Inc. until 2010.
Mark completed INSEAD’s general management program in 2017, received his Executive Masters in Business Administration degree from the Asian Institute of Management in 2003, and earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Menlo College, California in 1994.
ABS-CBN Corp. earlier reported a net income of P3.16 billion in 2017, down 10.3 percent from P3.53 billion in 2016 in the absence of election-related advertisements.
The company generated consolidated revenues of P40.7 billion from advertising and consumer sales last year, representing a 2.3 percent year-on-year decline from 2016.