Endemol Shine’s International Chief Nicola Bamford Steps Down After Banijay Takeover

EXCLUSIVE: Nicola Bamford, the CEO of Endemol Shine’s international operations, has become the latest executive to step down after Banijay completed its $2.2BN takeover of the MasterChef production group earlier this month.

Bamford has worked at Endemol Shine for the past three years, but joins the likes of CEO Sophie Turner Laing and Wim Ponnet, the chief strategy and commercial officer, in heading for the exit door since the Banijay merger was made official.

Harvard Business School graduate Bamford joined Endemol Shine in 2017 from Sky, where she was director of international OTT. She led the production giant’s operations in key international markets, including Southern Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Israel, India, Russia, and China.

A Banijay spokeswoman said: “We have had to trigger a number of redundancies through the integration process to adequately streamline the business for the future. Nicola Bamford has subsequently left her role as CEO, international operations.”

In an email to staff, Banijay CEO Marco Bassetti praised her “significant contribution” to the company’s success. Bamford added: “There have been many good times and memories I will treasure. I wish everyone the very best in this next chapter for the business moving forward and look forward to catching up with people in due course as travel rules allow.”

Bamford held a number of senior roles at Sky prior to arriving at Endemol Shine. As well as overseeing international OTT, she was senior vice president of programming for Sky Deutschland, and director of channels and operations at Sky UK. She has also worked at Disney as VP of ventures and business development.

Her departure comes as Endemol Shine’s Iberia CEO Pilar Blasco has been named as Banijay’s boss in the same region. Paolo Bassetti will remain in place as the CEO of Banijay Italy.