In happier times, Simon Fox was tipped as a potential ITV chief executive. Now, with his HMV empire wobbling, Fox has turned to one of the broadcaster's senior executives to solve his own recruitment problem.
David Wolffe, the finance director of ITV Studios, was named as HMV's new finance director this morning. Clearly Wolffe has not been deterred by HMV's recent poor performance - shares in the group plunged by a quarter earlier this month as the group reported a 16% fall in sales.
In a world of dodgy financial engineering, Wolffe is an actual engineer, having studied manufacturing engineering at Cambridge University. He also has a gift for understatement, telling the City that:
"The markets in which HMV operates are clearly not without their challenges, but I have been deeply impressed with the energy and plans for change that are being driven by Simon Fox and his team."
The FD chair at HMV has been up for grabs since Neil Bright, the current incument, agreed to join Holidaybreak. Wolffe is leaving ITV after a little more than two years, having previously worked at AOL and BBC Worldwide.
Fox might be forgiven if he were to look wistfully at ITV and wonder what might have been. Adam Crozier eventually picked up the CEO chalice, and had the pleasure of reporting a decent rise in revenues last month. HMV, in contrast, is being gnawed by merciless analysts predicting that the company will be "consigned to the history books", crushed by competition from digital download services and the supermarkets.
Today, though, Fox was in upbeat mood as he welcomed his new recruit:
"I am delighted to welcome someone of David's calibre and relevant experience to HMV Group as we continue the transformation of our business. I am confident that his financial background combined with a broader strategic expertise of changing media markets, of which HMV is a part, will be invaluable to us as we continue the transformation of our business."
Wolffe joins the HMV pack on 10 January 2011. Shares in the company are up 0.25p this morning, at 31p, which probably qualifies as a 'muted welcome'.
