Time Warner has thrown the doors open at its headquarters, letting potential executives kick the tires.
The tours are part of its search to find a new CEO of its Time Inc. magazine division, but so far the timetable looks like it is in go-slow mode.
About the only thing to emerge so far is who is not going to get the spot, created when Jack Griffin was given the ol’ heave-ho in February after less than six months on the job.
He was replaced by an interim triumvirate of Time Inc. Editor-In-Chief John Huey, Chief Financial Officer Howard Averill and Chief Legal Officer Maurice Edelson, who have been running the show.
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, however, has ruled out handing any of “the triumvirate” the top job.
“We felt and I felt that we have good management underneath that can work in a team effort,” Bewkes said at the company’s shareholders meeting several weeks ago. “Some of them are here today. And they’re doing a very excellent job. But the agreement that we made, between the three of them and us, was that they are not candidates for the CEO job.”
Sources said that after all the turmoil created when Bewkes handed the job to the outsider Griffin — only to have him clash with entrenched managers — that it would be difficult to recruit outside again.
For that reason, former insiders, including Jack Haire, now running the Parade Publications for S.I. Newhouse’s Advance Publications, and Eileen Naughton, an executive at Google with earlier ties to Bewkes at Time Warner, would be ideal candidates.
Former Hearst Magazines Chairman Cathleen Black, who was forced out as Mayor Bloomberg’s education chancellor after exiting Hearst, was also mentioned. “None of them is under consideration,” said one knowledgeable source.
In the case of Naughton, at least one source said she would be the ideal candidate because of her digital background, but they said she was frustrated by the long drawn out process and opted out. She could not be reached for comment.
Another candidate whose name has surfaced is Michael Klingensmith, a one-time executive vice president, former chief financial officer of Time Inc. and the launch publisher of Entertainment Weekly. He is now the CEO of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He did not return calls or e-mails seeking comment.
Heidrick & Struggles, the executive search firm, was hired several months ago and is drawing up names and trotting some of the candidates through the Time Warner offices. But it is still deemed to be early in the process — even though the beheading of Griffin took place five months ago.
Said one insider, “Everyone likes the triumvirate, but there is a lot of inertia and confusion because everyone knows it will not be one of the three guys.”
The timetable still calls for someone to be on board shortly after Labor Day, but with a ramp-up period, it could be close to a year before a newcomer is fully entrenched.
Turf battle
Condé Nast must find it a little tough to recruit people for the digital wars when the vice president of human resources exits. Matt Norman was on board for a little over a year, before exiting for a new gig at the daily deal firm Gilt Groupe last month.
He has not been replaced, although Nancy Ashbrooke, who is a senior executive director of HR and who had been a consultant and a senior vice president at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, is now taking over some of the tasks.
Several sources speculated that Jill Bright was not thrilled when she was moved upstairs to be chief administrative officer and had a wide range of responsibilities tacked onto her job, including public relations.
Sources said that she was very close to CEO Charles Townsend, whereas Norman was closer to Condé President Bob Sauerberg.
Said one insider, “It can’t be a good sign that Matt Norman left after such a brief time.”
The source said it might be the product of a turf war inside, between the old guard forces of Townsend and the Sauerberg new guard.
With ad sales in magazines slowly reviving, the pendulum could be swinging back to the old guard, offered the source, since that is still where the bulk of the company’s revenue comes from.
“Jill sort of named Norman to be her re placement and now she is taking back a lot of that function,” said one source. But another source said that the exit is “just the latest departure in the HR department. It’s been a real revolving door there for years.”
A Condé spokesperson insisted that there is no turf war afoot, but declined comment on the specific comings and goings down in HR. kkelly@nypost.com