CNBC merger sparks exit of EBN ad chief

EBN advertising sales director Martin Vernon is the first high-profile figure to depart in the wake of the company’s merger with CNBC.

Vernon, who joined the pan-European business cable station only last February, says: “I will leave at the end of the month. The merger was a good move for both companies and I wish it well.”

Rumours that the two pan-European cable stations, EBN and CNBC, would merge circulated the industry for most of last year. The deal was finally sealed last November (MW November 6 1997). The new company will adopt the CNBC name.

Vernon does not have a job to go to, but says if he does not find a suitable post he will consider setting up his own company.

Vernon has a high-profile background in print. He came to EBN from the Mirror Group, where he was the head of its business enterprise division and before that the group’s director of advertising.

CNBC can be received in 60 million homes worldwide, EBN reaches 31 million homes. But both showed growth of only about one per cent last year.