The “mad dog” is close to being let out of Condé Nast.
After more than two decades at the publishing giant, Richard “Mad Dog” Beckman is in serious talks to leave his job as CEO of Condé’s Fairchild Fashion group to become CEO of e5 Global Media, the newly formed trade publishing company that recently acquired The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, AdWeek and MediaWeek, The Post has learned.
A source familiar with the matter described the talks between Beckman and e5 as being at an advanced stage, though they still needed to be finalized and could ultimately collapse.
Reached yesterday, Beckman declined to comment. Jimmy Finkelstein, chairman of e5, did not return a call seeking comment.
If Beckman strikes a deal, it would end a 24-year career at Condé, and would come less than a year after Condé Nast Chairman S.I. Newhouse Jr. reassigned Beckman to run Fairchild, whose publications include Women’s Wear Daily.
An investment group that included Guggenheim Partners and Pluribus Capital Management in December snapped up the media and entertainment titles and related conference businesses from Nielsen Business Media for an estimated $70 million, and closed the deal at year-end.
Ex-Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz serves as Guggenheim’s executive chairman. The Pluribus team includes Finkelstein, who owns the political title The Hill; George Green, former Hearst Magazines International president; and Matthew Doull, step-nephew to fallen media baron Conrad Black and husband of Vanity Fair writer Vicky Ward.
An announcement about e5’s new CEO is expected “very soon,” several sources said yesterday.
Beckman has been at the helm of Fairchild since March after having served as president of Condé Nast Media Group, which is responsible for striking large advertising deals across multiple Condé titles.
Before moving to Fairchild, the media group under Beckman was believed to be responsible for about 80 percent of the ad revenue that flowed into the company.
He was also responsible for launching extravagant events such as “Fashion Rocks” at Radio City Music Hall and “Hollywood Rocks” in Los Angeles. Both shows featured prime-time TV specials before all of it was scrapped last year after the ad market deteriorated.
Beckman has been a controversial executive at Condé Nast, known for an aggressive management style that generated strong results.
Newhouse overlooked a serious infraction several years ago when Beckman, who was publisher of Vogue at the time, found himself at the center of a lawsuit in which a female employee received an out-of-court settlement after Beckman allegedly prodded her to kiss another female staffer and the woman wound up with a broken nose.