TORONTO - BCE Inc. announced Friday that chief executive George Cope will retire at the start of next year after nearly 12 years in the top job. The telecommunications and media company, which owns Bell Canada, CTV Inc., and a portion of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., said chief operating officer Mirko Bibic will takeover from Cope on Jan. 5, 2020. Bibic had been seen as a likely successor to Cope since he was named BCE’s chief operating officer last October. BCE chairman Gordon Nixon said in a statement that Cope has re-energized Bell as an “agile” competitor. “I’m familiar with the illness,” Cope said Friday in an interview with BNNBloomberg, a Bell Media specialty channel.

Source: thestar June 28, 2019 11:43 UTC