Vodafone executive departure fuels Sky TV CEO rumours

Vodafone consumer business unit director Matt Williams is leaving the company. Photo / file

Vodafone consumer director Matt Williams is leaving the company, fuelling speculation he may have eyes on Sky TV's chief executive role.

Staff were told of his departure this morning, however, a Vodafone spokesperson said he would not be leaving for six months.

"Today our Consumer Director Matt Williams announced he is moving on to new opportunities. We're of course very sad to see Matt go and want to acknowledge his enormous contribution to Vodafone both here in New Zealand and globally," the company said.

"Matt will stay on in his role as Consumer Director for another six months while we work through a recruitment process."

Sky's chief executive John Fellet plans to step down from the role by the end of the year, which would put Williams at the outer limit of the transition period.

There has been speculation that Vodafone chief executive Russell Stanners or Williams may have been considering throwing their hat into the ring for the Sky role, but earlier in the week Stanners said he had not been approached about the role and "had a great job already".

At the time, a spokesperson said the team was focused on work at Vodafone.

"Right now our entire executive team is focused on delivering great customer experiences to Kiwis and achieving our vision of becoming one of New Zealand's most admired companies," she said.

The company wouldn't comment on whether Williams had applied for, or been approached about the Sky role.

As well as external candidates, Sky TV has a number of experienced internal options for the head job several good including chief financial officer Jason Hollingworth, chief strategy officer George MacFarlane and product and technology head Julian Wheeler.