Advertising magnate Tarek Nour named head of UMS

After months of talk about a shakeup in the management of Egypt’s media landscape, advertising magnate Tarek Nour was announced as the new head of United Media Services, the state-managed media conglomerate announced on Tuesday. 

Nour’s appointment as the head of the UMS board came as part of a wider announcement that the conglomerate will partner with Tarek Nour Holding and Al-Mehwar TV to “develop a future strategy to advance the media system for the benefit of the industry as a whole.”

According to the statement, Tarek Nour Holding will bring in media industry experts to collaborate with UMS’s current management, and the company’s board of directors is to be restructured.

Nour, a longtime leader in the advertising and media industry, was selected after over two months of speculation about anticipated leadership shifts across official and semi-official media institutions, particularly UMS, the conglomerate owned by a sovereign entity. The new appointment comes amid financial and organizational reviews to regulate UMS operations.

In response to the announcement, Nour stressed the significance of the state involving the private sector in media management, calling it as a step toward “opening the door for media independence.” 

“The existing talents and resources within the alliance are capable of advancing the media industry on all fronts,” Nour stated. “I’m optimistic about the state’s confidence in the private sector. If the existing talents are empowered and given a bit of time, the role of Egyptian media and its soft power will bring us all joy.”

In 2021, UMS turned to financial and investment experts for leadership following tensions between its then-chair, Tamer Morsi, and Mohamed al-Saadi, the founder of MediaHub who disrupted UMS’s monopoly over the drama market for several seasons. The tensions ultimately led to a leadership shakeup, with Morsi reassigned as a board member and then-Deputy Central Bank of Egypt Governor Hassan Abdalla appointed as UMS chair. 

Abdalla led the company with a board that included Saadi, Amr al-Feki, the head of Point of Differentiation (POD Egypt), which dominates the advertising and events sectors, former Investment Minister Ashraf Salman and economist Mohamed Samir. Abdalla later left UMS to become CBE governor in September 2022, clearing the way for Salman to step in as UMS chair, with Saadi as his deputy and Feki as CEO. Tuesday’s announcement included a note of gratitude to Feki for his contributions.

Per Tuesday’s announcement, under Nour’s leadership, the new board will retain Saadi, Feki and Morsi as members, along with United Sports Company Chair Seif al-Waziri, co-CEO and partner at Tarek Nour Group Ahmed Tarek, Amr al-Khayyat, who led Al-Mehwar TV in 2021 and Sherif al-Khouly, partner and regional director at international direct investment firm Actis. Tarek Makhlouf, the former chair of Al-Qahera wal Nas — owned by Tarek Nour — will serve as managing director.

In August, UMS and Al-Qahera wal Nas signed an agreement for content exchange aimed at encouraging private-sector participation. 

Currently, UMS dominates Egypt’s media landscape, owning the majority of private TV channels and press institutions. Its portfolio has recently expanded to include Al-Qahera wal Nas and Extra News, bringing its subsidiaries to 17 TV channels, as well as newspapers and websites such as Youm7, Al-Watan and Al-Dostor, among 12 others news platforms, according to its official website.