Christoph Tonini to become Delegate of the Board and CEO of SMG Swiss Marketplace Group and step down from his mandates at TX Group

Christoph Tonini will become Delegate of the Board of Directors and CEO of SMG Swiss Marketplace Group (SMG) effective beginning of February. At the same time, he is stepping down from the Boards of Directors of TX Group and Goldbach Group. TX Group holds 30.76% of SMG.   

The Swiss Marketplace Group SMG will have a new CEO starting 1 February 2023. The current CEO, Gilles Despas, will leave the company (see also SMG media release). Christoph Tonini will take over the management as Delegate of the Board of Directors and CEO. He will step down from his existing board of directors mandates at TX Group and Goldbach.

Christoph Tonini has been a member of the TX Group Board of Directors since July 2020 and is a member of the audit committee. On behalf of TX Group he is also a member of the Board of Directors of Goldbach Group and an independent member of the Board of Directors of its subsidiary Goldbach Media. He joined the TX Group (then Tamedia) in 2003. After holding various management positions, he was appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the TX Group in 2007 and Chief Executive Officer in 2013.  In these functions, he was largely responsible for the strategic alignment of the TX Group, the development of advertising sales and the expansion in the area of digital platforms and marketplaces. Before joining TX Group, he held various management positions at Ringier. Christoph Tonini is currently active beyond the TX Group as a member of the Board of Directors of Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund and honorary member of the Board of Trustees of the children's charity Right to Play, among others. 

SMG was founded in November 2021 by TX Group, Ringier, La Mobilière and General Atlantic as a joint venture in the digital marketplace sector. The company includes the well-known platforms acheter-louer.ch, anibis.ch, AutoScout24, Car For You, FinanceScout24, home.ch, Homegate, icasa.ch, ImmoScout24, ImmoStreet.ch, MotoScout24, Ricardo, tutti.ch.
Pietro Supino, Chairman of the Board of Directors and publisher of the TX Group: "Christoph Tonini contributed significantly to the strong positioning and development of our Group as Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors. We are very pleased that he will become the CEO of SMG, which is of great importance to us."

Contact
Ursula Nötzli, Chief Communications & Sustainability Officer, Member of the Group Executive Board
+41 76 462 52 45, ursula.noetzli@tx.group

About TX Group
The TX Group forms a network of platforms and participations that offers users information, orientation, entertainment and assistance for everyday life on a daily basis. Its roots lie in journalism with the diverse newspapers of Tamedia and the free media of 20 Minuten. The portfolio is complemented by the advertising marketer Goldbach. The TX Group is an anchor shareholder of the SMG Swiss Marketplace Group and JobCloud, holds majority stakes in Doodle and Zattoo and is an investor in the fintech sector through TX Ventures. Founded in 1893, the company has been listed on the Swiss stock exchange since 2000.
www.tx.group