Archant, the Comet’s parent company, has appointed former Pixar and Twentieth Century Fox chief financial officer as its new chairman.

Simon Bax, has replaced Richard Jewson, who steped down yesterday (Thursday) after 32 years on the board.

Mr Jewson said: “We are delighted that someone with Simon’s extensive experience of managing the impact of digital technologies in the transformation of the media and entertainment industry has decided to join us.

“I know that chief executive Adrian Jeakings and his team are excited at the opportunity to work with Simon.”

Mr Bax has spent much of his career in the United States where he held a number of positions including chief financial officer of Chiat/Day, the global advertising agency; as executive vice-president and CFO of Studio Operations at Twentieth Century Fox and subsequently as CFO of Pixar Animation Studios.

In 2008, he co-founded and became chief executive of Encompass Digital Media Inc which grew to become an international leader in the provision of network origination services and fibre transmissions and digital media encoding services; growing to employ over 1,000 people with revenues of almost $300m. Encompass Digital Media Inc was sold in early 2012.

Mr Bax said: “I am greatly looking forward to the opportunity to work with a company which has such a deep heritage and is also committed to fully addressing the challenges of a rapidly transforming media landscape.”