Henry Tan to succeed Rohana in Astro

Astro group CEO Datuk Rohana Rozhana served the company since inception for 23 years, is not and has never been a government or political appointee in Astro or any other company

PETALING JAYA: Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd (Astro), which is the subject of speculation that it may be taken private, announced a succession plan that will see group chief content and consumer officer Henry Tan take the helm from Datuk Rohana Rozhan from end January next year.

In an announcement this morning, Astro said Rohana, who has been with Astro for 20 years, has given notice of her resignation to take effect from Jan 31, 2019.

“Rohana has been an inspirational leader to all at Astro, having led the team in setting many firsts and milestones for the media industry in Malaysia. We respect her decision to step down as group CEO and wish her all the very best and a bright future ahead,” said the chairman of Astro, Tun Zaki Azmi in an announcement to Bursa.

Notwithstanding her resignation as group CEO, on 31 January 2019, she will remain on the board as a non-executive director. 

“The business that we built at Astro over the years is attributable to one thing – the passionate, committed and talented individuals that make up Team Astro. It is my honour to have been part of this amazing team, moving as one, to achieve far more than I ever dreamt possible in a fast-evolving and dynamic industry. As Team Astro, our passion has always been to better serve our customers, which has been our privilege and our continued responsibility” said Rohana. 

According to the announcement, during Rohana’s tenure as CEO, Astro’s customer base grew from two million to 5.5 million, while revenue grew RM1.79bil to RM5.53bil for the financial year ended Jan 31, 2018.

Henry Tan has been with Astro for more than 10 years and will lead Astro as it faces challenges from cheaper alternatives such as over-the-top (OTT) service providers such as Netflix and dimsum.

Trading in Astro’s shares was halted between 9.38am and 10.38am today in view of the announcement. 

Two days ago, a wire report stated that Astro was a privatisation target by its major shareholder T Ananda Krishna. The stock price went up on the market talk but has since retreated. Kenanga Research said in a report today that Astro’s management has clarified that it has not received confirmation of any privatisation proposal.

At 12.10pm, Astro was trading 10 sen or 5.5% lower at RM1.73 with 6.6 million share traded.