The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Showmax and Multichoice, Marc Jury, has announced he is leaving both companies.
MultiChoice announced the resignation of Jury during a staff notice on Friday.
Jury’s duties will end in March 2025 and Byron du Plessis will replace him from April 1, 2025.
MultiChoice Group CEO, Calvo Mawela said that Jury is leaving Showmax to pursue opportunities in the business of sport.
“While we are sad to see him go, we are immensely proud of the legacy he leaves behind and are grateful for the contributions he has made to the business,” Mawela added.
Jury was with the group for nearly 10 years and before assuming the head position at Showmax, he was the CEO of SuperSport prior.
“Under his guidance, we celebrated numerous successes, such as the launch of the Netball World Cup’s historic all-female production crew, the growth of DStv Stream, and the Showmax 2.0 launch,” according to Mawela.
The struggles of MultiChoice
The Showmax CEO is leaving on the heels of some very troubling financial results from parent company, MultiChoice.
Earlier this month, financially insolvent MultiChoice reported that its interim loss for the 2025 financial year will be larger than last year's.
According to its interim financial statements for the six months through to September 2024, the DStv owner is expected to lose an estimated R1.84 billion.
MultiChoice said that its poor financial performance has been impacted by severe pressure in the macroeconomic, foreign exchange rate, and consumer environment in key markets, most notably Nigeria and Zambia.
The company acknowledged that it is facing “the most challenging operating environment in the group’s history”.
“MultiChoice is pursuing an inflationary pricing strategy and targeting R2 billion in cost savings in the group's full-year results ending March 31, 2025, to offset weaker subscriber activity and foreign exchange pressures,” the company explained.
Is DStv over?
In October, MultiChoice’s annual report showed that more than 400,000 people in South Africa dumped DStv.
The report showed that the pay channel’s subscribers had declined to 7.6 million in the year ended 2023/24, compared to 8 million in the previous financial year.
South Africa accounts for 48.5% of MultiChoice’s active subscribers and makes up around 60% of the company’s revenue.
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