Wouter Vandenhaute was born in Ghent, the son of Godelieve Kiebooms and Gerard Vandenhaute. His grandfather was
Louis Kiebooms, who was editor of the
Gazet van Antwerpen for more than 10 years. In the early 1980s Vandenhaute studied
physical education at the
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. After graduating, he went as a journalist to work for the weekly magazine
HUMO, the newspaper
De Morgen and as a sports editor of the then
BRT. At BRT he worked with colleagues like
Mark Uytterhoeven and Carl Huybrechts, contributing to the TV program
Sportweekend. He also presented the sports news in
Het Journal. In the early 1990s, Vandenhaute presented with Uytterhoeven the comedy talk show
Het huis van wantrouwen [The House of distrust]. Between 1992 and 1995, after
Het huis van wantrouwen had finished Vandenhaute went to pay channel
Filmnet as a football commentator.
Woestijnvis and De Vijver In 1997 Vandenhaute founded together with Jan and Erik Huyse Watté the production
Woestijnvis, that initially exclusively made programs for VRT. Thanks to TV personalities such as Uytterhoeven, Rob Vanoudenhoven, Tom Lenaerts and Bart De Pauw, and TV shows like
Man bijt hond [Man bites dog],
de Mol and
Alles Kan Beter [Everything Will Better], Woestijnvis grew into one of the most successful production companies in Flanders. In 2000,
De Mol was awarded the prestigious
Rose d'Or of Montreux. The program was further sold to about 50 countries. In 2000, then called
Vlaamse uitgeversmaatschappij (VUM) became a twenty percent shareholder in Woestijnvis. That year the production company brought the Bonanza weekly magazine. The magazine flopped and was closed after only thirty editions. In the field of television programs Vandenhautes production company experienced continued success through the turn of the century with episodes of the quiz program
De Pappenheimers and
De Slimste Mens ter Wereld [The Smartest Person in the World], regularly reached more than one million viewers. Even fiction series like
Het eiland [The Island],
De Parelvissers [The Pearl Fishers] and
Van vlees en bloed [Of flesh and blood] were a success. In 2005 Vandenhaute was nominated for
Manager of the Year by the financial-economic magazine
Trends. The prize eventually went to
Jan Callewaert. In 2010, the exclusivity contract between
VRT and Woestijnvis was not renewed. That year Vandenhaute was made CEO of
De Vijver, the holding company whose properties included Woestijnvis, 49 percent of the Humo magazine. In 2011,
De Vijver purchased with
Corelio and
Sanoma Media TV channels
VT4 and
VIJFtv for an amount estimated between 100 and 150 million. After the acquisition VT4 was renamed
VIER [Four] and VIJFtv to
VIJF [Five]. In 2012 with purchase complete, Woestijnvis on air talent and programs were transferred to
VIER. In 2014, Sanoma share in
De Vijver was sold to
Telenet, which became one of the three shareholders of the holding company. As a term of the deal, the weekly magazine Humo again became wholly owned by Sanoma. In 2015, Vandenhaute was made chairman of the board of directors of
De Vijver and therefore quit as CEO of the holding company.
Other projects In 2009, Vandenhaute who is an avid cycling fan, bought Flemish cycling classics like the
Tour of Flanders and the
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. A year later he founded
Flanders Classics. Since then Flanders Classics is responsible for the organization of six Flemish cycling classics (Tour of Flanders, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad,
Gent–Wevelgem,
Dwars door Vlaanderen,
Scheldeprijs and
Brabantse Pijl). In 2011 Vandenhaute endured much criticism when he announced that would be removing the climb of the
Muur van Geraardsbergen from the route of the Tour of Flanders. Vandenhaute is also a supporter of football club
RSC Anderlecht. In 2009 it became known that he was even in the picture as a shareholder of the football club. In January 2021 he succeeded Marc Coucke as chairman of RSC Anderlecht. Vandenhaute is owner of the restaurant
Couvert Couvert in Egenhoven (
Heverlee). In November 2005, the restaurant received a
Michelin star. He is also good friends with the Belgian chef
Geert Van Hecke. He is a member of the advisory board of the
Itinera Institute think-tank. ==References==