Rick Stengel, Time magazine’s top editor for the past seven years, is leaving for a job with the State Department.
While the appointment has yet to be confirmed by the US Senate, Stengel is in line to become Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Sources confirmed the news, first reported by PoliticoCapital New York and Politico, to Media Ink.
Stengel’s tenure was longer than either of his two predecessors, Jim Kelly and Walter Isaacson.
Nancy Gibbs, who was moved into the role of deputy managing editor two years ago, is widely expected to move to replace him. Gibbs, who has been at the magazine since 1985 and is well regarded by insiders, would be the first woman to run Time magazine.
Ironically, when she was given the editor-in-waiting job, there was speculation that her rise would have the added bonus of countering some of the buzz that was expected to accompany Tina Brown’s editorship of Newsweek. Clearly, that threat never materialized.
Brown herself had once vied for the Time job, meeting with then Editor-in-Chief John Huey, who was looking to replace Kelly. Instead, Huey went for Stengel, who had left to run the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia in 2004, when he was passed for the top job his first go-round.
Time’s fortunes have sunk rapidly over the past 15 years. At its spectacular 75th anniversary bash at Radio City Music Hall in 1998, the weekly was approaching $100 million in annual profit. Now, the magazine and its digital properties has seen its profits drop into the $10 million range.