Guillermo Schmitt: Newspaper Fix-It Man

By Michael Willard

Guillermo Schmitt sat on the terrace of the Opera Hotel's Teatro restaurant smoking a cigarette. He said it was his last. He is a man of conviction and determination, so we believe that fast-fading smoke will be his last, maybe. 

Schmitt came to Ukraine when he was on the shady side of 60, at a time when many his age consider retiring. He had seen men his age sitting outside Argentine cafés playing dominos to pass the time. He didn't want that.

So, this Argentinian came to Ukraine to breathe life into Segodnya, one of the largest daily newspapers in the country, and a publication owned by the powerful SCM group.  To merely say he has succeeded would be an understatement.

He has boosted market share in advertising from 25 percent to 51 percent, circulation revenue has grown 58 percent and income has jumped a whopping 153 percent. Three years ago, Segodnya launched a website. Today, it is the top-rated newspaper site in Ukraine.

The numbers are important - vital to the life of the newspaper. However, what Schmitt is most proud of is turning Segodnya from a yellow tabloid into a family newspaper. He stresses this in most every conversation.
A former partner in the Price Waterhouse accounting firm, Schmitt not only has the title of publisher, but also editor-in-chief. A non-Russian speaker, he has the paper read to him. He wants to know what news is being ferried to the readers.

It is also important to Schmitt that Segodnya upholds international journalistic standards. 
Contrary to the practice of many Ukrainian newspapers, Schmitt will not allow his advertising department to accept payment for running advertisements disguised as news stories. He equates this practice in the newspaper business with prostitution. Due to his success to date with Segodnya, Schmitt is optimistic about Ukraine. He recently renewed his contract for five more years. He said it was not a difficult decision:  "I enjoy living in Europe."

"We have very enjoyable internal feelings at the newspaper, and I have the confidence of the investors," he said.

Schmitt has also placed a high premium on education at Segodnya, a publication he has expanded with editions in key cities across Ukraine. He currently has 12 employees in MBA programs because, as he puts it, "One day, I will not be here." When his current contract expires in five years, he plans to return to Argentina and his children and grandchildren.

But it is not just about MBA's at Segodnya. He said there have been 15,000 hours of internal education, such as language study, journalism training and even yoga. ?The newspaper maintains a gym for its employees.
"I believe that in order to have a better newspaper you have to have better people," said Schmitt.
Schmitt said his first priority is to "preserve the organization, and my second is to run a democratic, participatory and happy organization."  He described the newspaper's first value as "truth."

While running a democratic organization, Schmitt said that from time to time his decisions are guided by pure instinct. "When I have to centralize a decision, I do, but I believe that truth from different points of view makes an organization pluralistic. I try not to get too involved in detail."

Schmitt plans to increase the company's investment in both printed publications and digital media. "My goal is to continue being the best. We are the best now, of that I am sure. Nobody has the ethical values that we have," he said.

It was a winding route that brought him to Ukraine. Schmitt started his career with Price Waterhouse at age 18 as an office boy, while still attending university. He eventually worked himself up to a partnership at the Big Four accounting firm. "That's all I thought I wanted to be," he said.

However, as fate would have it, he was called in by the owner of one of Buenos Aires' largest newspapers to take over and return the publication to profitability. Schmitt accomplished this feat, and found he enjoyed the newspaper world.

When he was asked to take a look at a newspaper in Ukraine, he came to the country for the first time and stayed two weeks, producing a report for the owners of Segodnya. The owners liked his analysis and asked him to stay on for six months. After two months at the helm, they asked if he would agree to a five-year contract.

"I had just gotten a divorce and it looked like an opportunity to start again," said Schmitt.
"When I decided to come to Ukraine, my mother was very old. She told me 'God has a plan for you to give Ukraine a better newspaper.'"

"Maybe she was right," Schmitt said.