Overview

Gender

male

Investor Type

Angel

A nearly 30-year veteran of the entertainment and media industry, Rich Battista is a proven Chief Executive Officer with significant experience operating, building and revitalizing large-scale multiplatform companies, often within the nexus of media, content and technology. Rich has reshaped, transformed and sold two multi-billion dollar publicly traded companies in Time Inc. and Gemstar-TV Guide. He has also founded startups, and conceived of, launched and built several highly valuable businesses during his long career inside Fox/News Corporation.

Currently Rich is an investor and advisor in the entertainment and media space. Prior to that, he was CEO of Imagine Entertainment, a leading content and production company. From September 2016 to January 2018, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Time Inc., before overseeing the $2.8 billion sale of the company to Meredith Corp. Time Inc. spun out of Time Warner into a separate publicly traded company in 2014. During his tenure, he oversaw the transformation of the company from a mostly print business into a leading multi-media enterprise and a top ten digital property in the U.S. with over 140 million monthly unique users, over 1 billion monthly video views, over 280 million social followers and a premier live events business. Under his leadership, the company also diversified and launched fast-growing businesses in television production, OTT, e-commerce, product licensing and direct-to-consumer paid products and services. He originally joined Time Inc. in April 2015 as President of PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly.

Prior to joining Time Inc., Rich spent two years as CEO of the early-stage media and content company, Mandalay Sports Media, which created, acquired and invested in businesses and content across the sports media landscape.

During a period of more than 18 years, Rich held a variety of senior management roles at the Fox/News Corp organization, where he was integral in conceiving of, building and operating its significant portfolio of leading cable networks. He ultimately served as President of Fox's National Cable Networks, running the multi-billion-dollar portfolio of entertainment and sports networks, including FX, National Geographic Channel, Speed Channel, Fuel and Fox Deportes. His prior roles included Executive Vice President, Business Development and Strategy for Fox Entertainment Group; Executive Vice President, Fox Television; and Executive Vice President, Fox Sports International.

From 2004-2008, Rich served as CEO of the publicly traded company Gemstar-TV Guide International. During that time, he revitalized TV Guide magazine, TV Guide Network, TV Guide Online and other businesses, turning the company around through impressive revenue and EBITDA growth and successfully directing its $2.3 billion sale.
Rich serves on the Board of Directors of the private equity-backed The Teaching Company, owner of the consumer brand, The Great Courses. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of MLB Players, Inc, the for-profit corporate subsidiary of the Major League Baseball Players Association. He also serves as a founding member of the Board of Directors of City Year Los Angeles, a leading education non-profit organization and as a Board member of Ars Nova, a non-profit theater company that discovers and develops emerging artists.

Rich began his career as an investment banking financial analyst at Morgan Stanley. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and undergraduate degree from Georgetown University with cum laude honors and has served on the University’s Board of Regents and Board of Governors. He is also the Founder and Chairman of the Georgetown Entertainment & Media Alliance, an alumni network of more than 4,500 entertainment and media professionals. In 2015, he was awarded Georgetown’s John Carroll Award, the University’s highest alumni honor.