An executive at Meta, the owner of social media behemoth Facebook, will be unveiled this week as the new boss of YouGov, the £1bn London-listed pollster.
Sky News has learnt that Steve Hatch, who recently announced his intention to leave Meta after a long stint as the head of its northern European operations, has agreed to become YouGov’s chief executive.
His appointment could be announced to the London Stock Exchange as soon as Friday morning.
Mr Hatch’s appointment will come six months after YouGov announced plans for Stephan Shakespeare, its founder and chief executive, to become its non-executive chairman.
The chair succession process will see Roger Parry, who has been on the company’s board since 2007, handing over to Mr Shakespeare in the summer.
Under their stewardship, YouGov has evolved into a broader data analytics business, complementing its roots as a supplier of opinion poll data covering a broad range of subjects.
The company was founded in 2000 by Mr Shakespeare and Nadhim Zahawi, the former Conservative chancellor and party chairman.
After floating in 2005, it now employs hundreds of people and despite seeing its shares slide by nearly a third over the last year, has a market capitalisation of close to £1bn.
At the half-year stage, technology clients were the biggest consumer of YouGov’s data products and services, with agencies in second place.
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One shareholder contacted by Sky News on Thursday evening described the succession process as “smooth” and said Mr Hatch possessed “the ideal CV” to take over the running of the business.
Prior to joining Facebook, he was chief executive of the media planning and buying agency MEC, and held several other senior roles in the UK advertising sector.
He will arrive at YouGov at a time when the business is going through a significant strategic transformation.
In a market update in February, it said there was “substantial headroom for growth in our existing business lines and further upside potential stemming from our evolution into a platform company”.
“As we navigate the current macro environment, we are reassured by the stickiness of our client base and the strong, long-term relationships we have built that will continue to drive the business forward.”
YouGov has also announced other changes to its board in recent months, naming Shalini Govil-Pai, a senior Google executive, and Devesh Mishra, Deliveroo’s chief product and technology officer, as non-executive directors.
A YouGov spokesman declined to comment on Thursday.
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