Jack Griffin (PRN)
The reign of Queen Ann is coming to an end at Time Inc.
Ann Moore, CEO of Time Inc., the publishing division of media giant Time Warner, which includes People, Time, Sports Illustrated and InStyle magazines, is going to step down after eight years in the top spot, according to knowledgeable sources.
She is expected to be succeeded by Jack Griffin, who until Monday was CEO at rival Meredith’s national media group, the division that publishes Better Homes & Gardens and Ladies’ Home Journal. The group was a mag standout in the Great Recession by reporting ad page gains in 2009.
An announcement on the succession could be made as early as next week. Sources said Moore is involved in the search.
On the day Griffin resigned, Meredith officials said, “Jack told us that he is looking to accelerate his career and believes his best opportunity to do so exists outside Meredith. We respect his decision.”
Griffin did not return calls seeking comment.
Time Warner, which yesterday posted strong earnings for the second quarter, also declined comment.
Sources say they expect that Griffin will be less sentimental about keeping non-core titles in the stable than Moore, who spent her entire 32-year career at Time Inc., including the last eight as its CEO.
“It will probably create more nervousness in the short term, simply because Ann had been there for so long and he’s coming in from the outside,” said one veteran.
Griffin maintained a low profile working for Meredith, but is seen as making good strategic acquisitions in the digital realm — such as the purchase of mobile hot shop the Hyperfactory earlier this year. And he steered the division to solid growth in the fiscal year ended June 30.
Moore, who just turned 60, talked from time to time about leaving — but then would be offered a contract extension and stayed. Her current contract expires in mid-2011.
There is some talk that Moore might get kicked upstairs and become chairman of Time Inc.
In recent months, there had been persistent buzz that Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes was finally seriously looking for Moore’s successor.
Her reign will go down as mixed. She is credited with spinning InStyle and Real Simple out of People, a title she rode to glory as its publisher and president in the booming 1990s. She turned it into the biggest division while People became the most profitable magazine in the US.
Moore was the first woman to hold the CEO job in Time’s history and slowly dismantled much of the old boy network.
She was credited with cutting a bloated payroll while pushing the company into the digital arena, getting Time Inc. titles on the Apple iPad with apps for Time, Sports Illustrated and Fortune.
Moore also sold off the slow-growth special interest magazine division to Bonnier two years ago.
But others were embittered by the perennial cutbacks — always right around the holidays — that ended the careers of many veteran executives and thousands of workers.
At Time Inc., second-quarter operating profit climbed 50 percent to $153 million, while revenue held steady at $919 million.