Francois Guerin

Media & Sports executive | Former CCO @RealMadrid, VP of Media Operations and Studios @Verizon, Yahoo | Executive producer | Angel investor

Madrid, Community of Madrid, Spain

About

Francois Guerin is a French-American media, sports, and entertainment executive with 20 years of experience specializing in leading and transforming digital, content and monetization operations for global brands (Real Madrid C.F., Verizon, Yahoo). He worked in North America, Europe and Latin America. He is MARCA’s Publisher and Chief Business Officer. He oversees its P&L across all of its subsidiaries (MARCA, Radio MARCA, MARCA America, MARCA TV). MARCA is one of the most read sports media publications in the world and a reference in the Spanish language, part of media conglomerate RCS Media Group. Until February 2025, he was the Chief Content Officer at Real Madrid C.F. Under his leadership the Club’s media operations were successfully overhauled, as exemplified by the social media following, which grew by over 300 million new followers in 3 years, breaking all previously-established records in the industry and making Real Madrid the largest sports brand in social media.He also launched RM Play, the highest-rated OTT platform among football Clubs, and signed the two biggest content licensing deals in Real Madrid history with Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video, producing two long form documentary series globally released on those platforms. Before joining Real Madrid C.F. in 2022, Francois held senior roles in Europe and the United States at Yahoo and Verizon Media, where he managed business planning and operations functions for advertising and content divisions, oversaw all studios operations in North America and London, and scaled and improved media businesses in diverse markets. He has a track record of improving P&Ls in both investment/growth and scale-back scenarios. Francois was promoted 5 times during his tenure at both companies. Angel investing: Francois is an angel investor (seed, series A) in sports, tech, media and eCommerce ventures. His portfolio includes Polymarket, WOWFC, Totem Labs, ThisWay, KYVA, Hevo... Movie production: He also supports independent movie creation, financing feature films. Among other projects, he co produced Simon of The Mountain, a feature film that won multiple prizes at film festivals across the world including Grand Prix at Festival de Cannes’ Critics Week. Education: MBA from ESSEC Business School (France) & Tec de Monterrey (Mexico). MSA (Master of Sports Administration) from Ohio University, ranked #1 sports management program worldwide by SportsBusiness. Journalism certificates from Poynter Institute. Francois speaks Spanish, French, English and some Portuguese.

Experience

  • Chief Business Officer at Marca
    Mar 2025 - Present · 1 yr 5 mos

    Publisher, responsible for MARCA and Radio MARCA P&Ls across all four global editions and subsidiaries MARCA is owned by Unidad Editorial, the Spain-based division of publicly-traded media conglomerate RCS Media Group.

  • Executive Producer at Independent
    Oct 2023 - Present · 2 yrs 10 mos

    Executive production and investor in independent films. - Simon of the Mountain (2024). A film by Federico Luis. Coproduction with 12/30, 20:20 Films, Planta Producciones and Mother Superior. Distributed in theatres and on Netflix. Awards include Best Film at Festival de Cannes’ Critics Week (2024), Best Picture at Munich Film Festival (2024), Best Film & Best Actor at Lima Film Festival (2024), and more. - Una Pareja (A Couple) (2025). A film by Carlos Rincones. Coproduction with 12/30. Currently in post production. - The Dogs Trainer (2026). A film by Federico Luis. In development. - More projects in preproduction as of January 2026.

  • Chief Content Officer at Real Madrid C.F.
    Mar 2022 - Feb 2025 · 3 yrs

    Led content strategy, operations and distribution across owned and operated properties (app, web, OTT) and third party channels (social media, global streamers, licensees).

  • Verizon Media (On-site)
    • Vice President, Head of Studios & Media Operations
      Sep 2019 - Dec 2021 · 2 yrs 4 mos

      Managed the Studios business unit and oversaw business planning and operations across all the Content division. Managed a team of 200+ full time employees and contractors based in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, New York City, Toronto and London.

    • Chief of Staff, Senior Director of Strategy and Operations
      Jun 2017 - Sep 2019 · 2 yrs 4 mos

      Oversaw business planning and operations for all media properties across the News, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Makers, Tumblr, Studios & Video divisions.

  • Yahoo! Inc. (Full-time · 10 yrs 8 mos)
    • Senior Director, Strategy and Operations, Media
      Oct 2016 - Jun 2017 · 9 mos

      Oversaw strategy and operations across all Yahoo media properties globally, prior to the sale of the business to Verizon.

    • Director, Business Planning & Operations, Media (worldwide)
      Jan 2014 - Sep 2016 · 2 yrs 9 mos

    • Director, Business Planning & Operations, Media (Latin America & Canada)
      Nov 2012 - Dec 2013 · 1 yr 2 mos