Discovery has hired Google executive Neil
Chugani as chief financial officer and head of strategy and operations for the media company’s direct-to-consumer business.
Discovery is in the process of developing a streaming service
that aggregates content assets from across its brands. The goal, management has acknowledged, is to do this without undermining the company’s pay-TV distribution network.
Chugani had
been with Google since 2015, most recently as CFO for the EMEA operations of Google and YouTube.
At Discovery, Chugani will work with Peter Faricy, CEO of global D2C, to formulate and
implement the financial strategy to support the D2C team’s meeting Discovery’s growth objectives.
He will also work with all of Discovery’s D2C business units in the U.S. and
international markets to establish consistent strategic, financial and operational practices.
Chugani will be based at Discovery’s London offices and report to Discovery CFO Gunnar
Wiedenfels.
While at Google, Chugani helped double EMEA revenue, according to the Discovery announcement.
Previously, he has served as group CFO at BBC Worldwide, in senior positions
at Sky, and as a technology and media banker at Goldman Sachs.