RTL Group has set out a new leadership line-up, appointing Warner Bros. Discovery executive Clément Schwebig to succeed Thomas Rabe as chief executive in May 2026.
Schwebig, currently President and Managing Director Western Europe & Africa at Warner Bros. Discovery, will return to RTL Group and is expected to join its board as an executive director. From May 2026, the group’s executive committee will comprise Schwebig as CEO and Björn Bauer, who continues as chief financial officer.
Deputy CEO and COO Elmar Heggen will step down from his executive roles at the end of 2025 at his own request, remaining on RTL Group’s board as a non-executive director.
RTL Group chairman Martin Taylor praised Heggen’s “pivotal role” in shaping group strategy and highlighted Schwebig’s international experience in linear TV, streaming and production, along with his network of industry partnerships.
Rabe, who combines the RTL role with the top job at parent company Bertelsmann, said Schwebig’s familiarity with RTL and the wider TV industry made him well placed to drive growth “in particular in the areas of streaming and content production”, working alongside Bauer and the group’s operating CEOs.
Schwebig began his media career at RTL Group, spending more than a decade managing TV operations across Europe before moving to Time Warner/Turner in Hong Kong in 2013. He has since held senior roles across Asia and Europe at Turner, WarnerMedia and Warner Bros. Discovery, overseeing TV networks, the HBO Max streaming service, local scripted and unscripted production and Warner Bros. Studio activities.
