Discovery, Inc. has hired Google’s Neil Chugani to head strategy and operations for its direct-to-consumer business. He is also CFO of its streaming vertical.
Chugani, who will be based at Discovery’s London offices, will report to Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels. He’ll work closely with Peter Faricy the CEO of Discovery’s global direct-to-consumer business.
Last month, Discovery hired Hulu’s head of content acquisition Lisa Holme, who will also report to Faricy, to lead the company’s streaming content strategy.
Yes, there are lots of (high-ranking) cooks over there.
Chugani will be responsible for formulating and implementing the financial strategy that will allow the team to meet Discovery’s ambitious growth objectives in the DTC space, according to the company. He will work with all of Discovery’s DTC business units, both in the U.S. and International markets to create consistent strategic, financial, and operational practices.
“We are delighted to welcome Neil to the Discovery team,” Wiedenfels said on Monday. “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.”
“We are thrilled to add another world-class executive to Discovery’s growing direct-to-consumer organization,” Faricy added. “Neil has a strong track record of strong and successful business growth in the tech and media sectors, and we look forward to working with him as Discovery continues to invest in expanding our global direct-to-consumer offerings.”
Most recently, Chugani was a senior director at Google who held a number of leadership positions at the tech company, which he joined in 2015. Chugani served as the tech company’s CFO for the business and operations of Google and YouTube in Europe, Middle East and Africa, where he played a key role in driving the doubling of revenue in the region over the last five years.
Prior to joining Google, Chugani was group CFO at BBC Worldwide, the commercial and international arm of the BBC, held senior executive positions at Sky, and was a technology and media banker at Goldman Sachs.