Schüler to head combined Virgin Media and O2

Liberty Global and Telefonica have signalled their intention to appoint Lutz Schüler as chief executive officer of their proposed joint venture.

Patricia Cobian will be chief financial officer.

The companies are currently waiting on to approval by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK for the 50-50 joint venture combining Virgin Media and O2.

Lutz Schüler joined Virgin Media in 2018 as Chief Operating Officer and has been CEO at Virgin Media since June 2019. Prior to that, Schüler spent more than seven years as CEO of Unitymedia GmbH, Liberty Global’s German operation, which was sold to Vodafone in 2018.

Patricia Cobian is currently Chief Financial Officer for O2, a position she has held since 2016. During a 15-year career with Telefonica she has held a number of senior management positions

Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global, and José Maria Alvarez-Pallete Lopez, CEO of Telefonica, said in a joint statement: “We are about to embark on an exciting new chapter for Virgin Media and O2, and Lutz and Patricia are the right leaders to deliver on our ambition to create the UK’s national connectivity champion. Together they will build a strong, diverse and dynamic team that will bring more choice, more value and world-class innovation to over 46 million fixed and mobile customers and the broader consumer and enterprise market.” Broadband TV News