Pierluigi Gazzolo, CEO of TelevisaUnivision’s ViX, will leave

Pierluigi Gazzolo, the TelevisaUnivision executive who helped build the nascent ViX streaming service and made it profitable in just two years, plans to leave the company at the end of the year.

“I want you all to know how proud I am of everything we have accomplished together with ViX – we surpassed viewership and revenue milestones this year and significantly expanded our footprint across platforms and regions to deliver premium entertainment to Spanish speakers across the whole world. And to top it all off, we announced ViX’s profitability this week with our Q3 results – a tremendous achievement, driven by hard work and innovation from everyone in this organization, including our incredible partners at Televisa networks and studios in Mexico who our great content and promotion,” Gazzolo said in a letter to staff on Thursday. He added: “This turning point of progress is one that makes my personal transformation here feel complete – the time is right to close this chapter, spend time recharging and exploring what kind of adventure will take me next will nourish.”

Gazzolo, who plans to leave in December, will be leaving a company in transition.

The Spanish-language media giant recently appointed a new CEO, Daniel Alegre, who comes from senior roles at Google and Activision Blizzard. Earlier this week, he laid out a plan to bring two separate parts of the company – formed from the merger of the Univision broadcast network in the US and Grupo Televisa’s media production assets in Mexico – more closely together.

“Each of these has been around for over 60 years, and while that brings a rich history, catalog and brand recognition, it also brings very established ways of operating,” Alegre said on a recent call with investors. “We have a real opportunity to move from two regional companies to one global company.” He also called for an evolution from “a company with siled linear and streaming businesses to a content-first company that is platform agnostic.”

What that could mean for ViX’s leadership remains to be seen.

The choice to leave would be Gazzolo’s own. Now that ViX’s quest for early profitability has been fulfilled, the executive can look for a new adventure.

ViX initially debuted as PrendeTV, and Gazzolo had a hand in convincing celebrities like Sofia Vergara to join the service as the company’s plans for it became more ambitious.

He is expected to work with ViX chief operating officer Rafael Urbina and the rest of the agency’s leadership team until his departure. Alegre did not say whether he had identified a new director to lead ViX.