Abullatif Al Sayegh on Sunday confirmed he had stepped down as CEO of the Arab Media Group (AMG) after nine years with the company.
“I am gone. This was on my own terms, with everyone’s approval, with everyone being happy. This is a company that I will be grateful to for the rest of my life. What an amazing opportunity I had – at this age to have all the knowledge that anyone would be dreaming (of having),” the 35-year-old told Arabian Business.
“I have been here since 2001, and I believe now I have completed nine years it is time to (move on). It is not about making more money, it is about...I have done quite enough, and I saw my role was not as effective as it used to be. I am a person who just wants to keep going and building and doing more, and right now everything is established,” Al Sayegh said.
Full article here
24 comments:
transcript of interview here. jesus.
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/579057-full-interview-with-abullatif-al-sayegh
Anyone covering this gem?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/17/islamic-solidarity-games-cancelled
Not on the AMG subject, but worth further insight from those in the know. How come several journalists who have worked for a particular media company have not exposed its owner who has in his villa some kind of a private zoo with several endangered animals in it. So either guess who is that owner or the name of the company.
Shining star, my fundament.
He screwed up everything he touched.
I recall the disastrous launch of Emirates 24/7 and the way Abdul Latif got his ass kicked by 7days who put out a better paper with a tenth of the resources.
And when his failure became apparent, he called in his contacts at the Majlis to put the frighteners on 7days, the KT etc etc etc.
He's a pathetic coward who was just about in the right place for his talents when he was an intern at a Baltimore radio station.
When Emirates Today launched in 2005 he confidently told the staff "in two years we will have offices in New York, London and all over the world and you will be the pioneers I want to lead in those offices." We're still waiting.
Re 14:20. Yes, it was definitely in The National and probably the other papers.
His final word:
"But as I said, Mohammed Al Mulla is there and I am sure he is going to do a better job."
19:44. Does the company sound like Porporate Iblishing Cinternational?
I, for one, who never want to see that man 'exposed'!
19.44 are you making reference to CPI owner Dominic D'Souza? He is a self-styled animal rescue enthusiast who claims to rehome these exotic creatures when their owners no longer want them.
When Gavin Dickinson launched EB247/Emirates Today it all started to go wrong. Ultimately Abdullatif paid the price for Gavins big mouth.
Same when I was at ITP, he's just full of hot air !
yeah but the locals value someone full of hot air and management speak and target oriented business school jargon that has no basis on market reality.
"in the race for excellence there is no end to the bullshit" to paraphrase mbr
anyway who cares about abdul latif, he's aminor player in the big picture.
more importantly what's happened to golden boy gergawi ? does he still sit at the right hand ?
Gavin created a huge impact when i was at ITP. he then went on to launch radio stations for ARN and drove some of the ambition of AMG. He was part of a team that launched 2 papers. 1 English & 1 Arabic tabliod. The Arabic went onto great things (it has over taken Bayan in the readership stakes and will soon overtake ADMC's flagship Ithihad) It is a bit wild but has shaken up the boring mkt of Arabic newspapers. ET the english version was killed by censorship & control.
24/7 suffers the same 'everything is perfect' fate.
For a bloke 'full of hot air' he seems to get a lot done & is now doing good things with The National & the print division of ADMC is the word.
Gavin dropped AMG soon after ALS stopped listening to any reason.
ITP will always hate Gavin, as he told the CEO to lump it. So did Steve Lee (who now works with Gavin) and together they went on to suck a huge amount of cash out of ITP advertising. Any comment from ITP re these two should laughed at. I was at itp and the greed of the top dogs is hard to work out.
Alas the sad lobster with the tied claws at CPI's Bur Dubai office.
I knew him well...
I thought the blog had a policy of not naming people?
I understand if you discuss the person from an interview - that is fair.
But anonymous commentators having a free for all with personal comments is not wise.
Internet is forever. Anytime any of these people wants another job or is googled this tripe comes up...
Its okay to vent, but the post survives longer then your anger.
You think ITP had soour grapes because they never mmanaged to lauch a paper.... Metro/7 Days....and the Business Newspaper?
'Gavin created a huge impact when i was at ITP'
Superb. You've not got the hang of production basics, Gavin, if you can't even sub your own work!
It's good to see that Gavin is not too busy gutting the National to take time to come "anonymously" to DMO and defend himself. The man knows his priorities.
AMG just got it so wrong in TV. They should have stuck to Radio & Arabic papers.
Hello wake up! Why do I have a feeling this blog is being managed by someone based in the UK?
Anyway, 'Emiratisation' is coming to a desk near you, soon. Also, free newspapers are illegal so put down that illicit copy of 7DAYS or face the consequences mother*****r.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/uae-editors-back-emiratisation-of-media-1.575478
I worked with Gavin at AMG. Solid guy. Good luck to him in Abu Dhabi the new media kingdom.
AMG was a great place run by very silly people drunk on Dubai's powerlust.
The AMG : ARN radio stations are flying & the group started in Radio & ended there.
RIP
Gavin created a huge impact when i was at ITP.
You fool, the writer is saying he worked with the guy. Is anything on this site for real?
When is this blog going to get more interesting.
Seems to me that all the ITP bashing has dropped off as the company is 1/5th the size & all the ex staff are serving burgers in Hull.
Goodbye Abdullatif. He was very kind to me when I first joined AMG. But the toxic work environment he fostered there was impossible to deal with. Lebanese sales against Indian back office against Arabic journos against English journos. I've never seen anything like it. He himself recognised it. His mistake was not concentrating enough on one project. He was attention-deficit I think. He is a good business mind, but no discipline at all. He would have an idea for a paper and then the next day rush off on a TV thing. So nothing was every 100% realised. Then he would bring fast-talking no talents like Saed and Gavin in, who never actually delivered and somehow made others look like the problem instead.
We all know that all of you westerners working in the media in the UAE are good for nothing and will do anything just to suck the money out of any company you work for. I just hope one day the media industry will wake up and kick you all out back to where you belong.
Guys, don’t create your own stories here .I request you to concentrate on your jobs and not to waste your valuable time on writing this negative stories.
we all should support to this current situation. Think about yourself as how you can support your employer as well as your family.
Please remember Your support can make big difference .
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