[BREAKING] MediaMarkt appoints Olivier van den Bossche (Galeria, Inno) as new CEO Benelux

MediaMarkt Benelux has appointed Olivier van den Bossche, until recently CEO of German department store group Galeria, as its new General Managing Director Benelux. On 11 August, the Belgian national will take over from Faruk Kocabas.

More changes

Van den Bossche will combine his new function with that of Country Manager Sales Benelux. The move comes a few months after Van den Bossche unexpectedly had to step down from Galeria, where he had only been in charge since  2023.

At the same time, MediaMarkt Benelux announced that Dirkjan Bussink, former CFO Benelux at C&A, will become Country Manager Finance on 1 September, succeeding Sebastiaan Stipdonk who is leaving the company. Meanwhile, Faruk Kocabas, who only held the position of General Managing Director Benelux ad interim, returns to his original position at MMS (MediaMarkt Saturn) Retail Group. As COO, he is responsible for Poland, Spain and Turkey, as well as the Benelux. He will also remain General Managing director of MediaMarkt Spain.

Van den Bossche led Galeria through a turbulent restructuring period, following the bankruptcy of former owner Signa after René Benko’s real estate empire that collapsed like a house of cards last year. Van den Bossche had to leave Galeria earlier this year, allegedly after “strategic disagreements”. Previously, the Belgian had already had key roles at Metro, Rituals en former Galeria subsidiary Inno.