Gunnar Wiedenfels

As Chief Financial Officer, Gunnar Wiedenfels leads Discovery’s global financial functions and strategies, including all accounting, treasury, budgeting, tax and investor relations activities. Additionally, he serves on the executive team, contributing to the company’s overall strategic direction and operations.

Since joining Discovery in 2017, Wiedenfels has helped transform and modernize the company into the global leader in real-life entertainment. Most recently, he has been a key architect of Discovery’s agreement with AT&T to create a premier, standalone global entertainment company, to be called Warner Bros. Discovery. The proposed company combines WarnerMedia’s premium entertainment assets with Discovery’s leading nonfiction and international entertainment and sports business. In addition, Wiedenfels played a key leadership role in the company’s 2018 acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive, and the creation of the new Discovery from the successful integration of the two companies under a best-in-class, blended leadership team. Under Wiedenfels’ leadership, the company created a new operating model that delivered over a billion dollars in savings and achieved key operating and financial targets ahead of plan.

Wiedenfels joined Discovery following seven years in executive management roles at ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE in Munich, Germany. In his most recent role as CFO, he was responsible for the broadcaster outperforming analyst expectations and strong shareholder value creation. Under Wiedenfels, ProSiebenSat.1 was included in Germany’s DAX index of 30 largest listed companies by market capitalization in the country. Prior to his CFO role, he served as ProSieben’s Deputy CFO from 2014 to 2015 and Chief Group Controller from 2013 to 2015.

Before joining ProSiebenSat.1, he worked as a management consultant and engagement manager at McKinsey & Company. Wiedenfels also serves as Chairman of the Audit Committee on the SAP SE Supervisory Board. He studied Business Informatics in Mannheim, and received his Ph.D. from the RWTH Aachen University, both in Germany. He is based at Discovery’s New York headquarters.