ABS chairman emeritus Lopez quits as broadcaster rebuilds

[MANILA] ABS-CBN's chairman emeritus, Eugenio "Gabby" Lopez III, has quit and has relinquished his board seats in the Philippine media company and other ventures controlled by the Lopez family.

Mr Lopez, who previously served as chief executive officer (CEO) and is the son and namesake of ABS-CBN's founder, resigned effective immediately for personal reasons, the company said in a statement. He also gave up his board seats in ABS-CBN Holdings, Sky Vision, Sky Cable, First Gen, Rockwell Land and First Philippine Holdings.

"While he left ABS-CBN's day-to-day management sometime ago, Gabby remained the face of the company," said Astro del Castillo, managing director at First Grade Finance. "Given the heat he has received, this could shield ABS-CBN and the family's other businesses from any potential political threat." ABS-CBN was forced to reduce its programming, terminate 45 per cent of its 11,000 workers and take a 5.6 billion peso (S$157.8 million) impairment charge after its bid to renew a franchise to operate free-to-air television was rejected by Congress in July, CEO Carlo Katigbak told shareholders in a meeting on Thursday. The broadcaster had been a target of President Rodrigo Duterte's attacks, accusing it of biased news coverage, which ABS-CBN had denied.

Mario Luza Bautista, general corporate counsel and board adviser, was elected ABS-CBN director to fill the seat vacated by Mr Lopez. ABS-CBN shares rose as much as 2.7 per cent before paring gains to 1 per cent to 7.07 pesos at the 1pm close in Manila.

BLOOMBERG