Astro Malaysia names new CEO as Henry Tan retires

Astro Malaysia has appointed Euan Daryl Smith (pictured right) to succeed Henry Tan (pictured left) as group CEO. Tan will retire from his role on 31 January 2023 while Smith will assume the role on 1 February. At the same time, Tan will continue as an advisor to strengthen Astro's content pipeline to serve the Group's businesses and platforms.

Smith joined Astro as group COO and CEO, Pay TV two years ago, bringing with him a wealth of pay TV experience, having held senior leadership roles in Sky UK and Fox US. According to Astro, he was a key member of the team that engineered Sky Germany’s successful turnaround and was instrumental in helping Foxtel Australia move into the streaming era. As such, Astro's Board of Directors is confident that Smith will continue to transform and lead Astro into the future, supported by a strong management team.

The Board also thanked Tan for his invaluable contribution to the Group since 2008. Astro declined to comment on additional questions from A+M.

Astro chairman Ali Redhauddin Ibni Tuanku Muhriz said Tan has been an inspirational leader to all at Astro, having steered the team through different phases of the business achieving several key milestones in the media and entertainment industry. 

"An advocate of local content, Tan is best known for transforming local movies into box office sensations, and for building a vault of valuable content and original intellectual property, which is central to Astro’s core," he added.

Tan took on the CEO role in 2018, replacing Rohana Rozhan. He was previously group chief content and consumer officer. According to Astro, Tan focused on three areas when driving Astro's transformation: creating the best local original content, utilising technology and data, and leveraging the Group’s customer base and unrivalled reach. He also steered Astro in the direction of becoming an aggregator of global streaming services including Disney+ Hotstar, Netflix, HBO GO, iQIYI and TVBAnywhere+.

"I would like to thank Team Astro whose dedication has been fundamental to achieving many firsts - from the introduction of HD, freemium multichannel NJOI TV, raising the stature of Astro own content - Signatures and Originals, launching and growing Astro’s education brand Tutor TV to its five million reach, to in-home cinema Astro First - all of which were instrumental in cementing Astro's position as the entertainment destination for Malaysians," Tan said.

He added that he is also grateful for all the leaders before him who put the foundations in place and inspired him and the team to achieve many successes in Astro's journey to better serve Malaysians.

Meanwhile, Smith said he looks forward to working with Tan in his new advisor role. "Team Astro has made great strides over the last two years. I believe Astro is now uniquely positioned to maximise the opportunities presented by the ever-changing media and entertainment landscape," he added.

Recently, Smith told Bernama in an interview that the company plans to double down on global streaming services on its platform and offer more local content through Astro Originals. It will also continue investing in its transformation plans, especially in the area of content, streaming, customer experience, data, addressable advertising, broadband, and tech infrastructure.

Astro recently post revenue of RM921 million for the second quarter of its financial year ending 31 January 2023. Its PATAMI for the period also increased by 13% year-on-year to RM98 million, underpinned by cost discipline. Recovery in consumer sentiment remained uneven, due to inflationary pressure from the heightened geopolitical events and global supply chain disruption. The Group remained cash generative and proactive in its capital management.

During the first half of its 2023 financial year, Astro's radex and digital adex rose 16% and 5% year-on-year respectively while total adex stood at RM199 million. Radex, TV adex and digital adex share stood at 73%, 32% and 3% respectively. Meanwhile, Astro digital brands registered 11 million monthly unique visitors.

"Investments into our transformation plan are ongoing, focusing on content, broadband, streaming, customer experience, data, addressable advertising and technology infrastructure to better serve our customers," Tan said.

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