Susan Lyne’s resignation yesterday as CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia might not signal the end of her career in magazines.
The Post has learned that Lyne and Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore are slated to have lunch next week, a meeting that was arranged yesterday after news broke out that Lyne was stepping down after four years at MSLO.
Speculation has swirled for months that Lyne was being scouted to replace Moore, who has said she will not renew her current contract when it expires in the second quarter of 2010.
Indeed, The Post on Jan. 2 reported that Lyne might be looking to exit the company – something she denied a week later.
For her part, Lyne insisted that nothing is in the works with anyone.
“Those are just rumors,” she said of the Time Inc. chatter. “I’ve had no conversations with anyone over the last 18 months. Anytime anyone would call, I’d say, ‘I’m the CEO of Martha Stewart Living.’ ”
However, she left little doubt that she plans another gig. “I’m not done yet,” she said.
She said it was always her intention to leave after three years and that she had stayed a bit longer to complete the transition. The company returned to profitability last quarter.
Wenda Harris Millard, who had been MSLO’s president of media, and Robin Marino, president of the merchandising unit, will now serve as co-CEOs. Both report to Chairman Charles Koppelman.
While some observers weren’t surprised that Lyne – who joined MSLO in 2004 just as company founder Martha Stewart began a prison sentence for lying to federal investigators about a stock sale – was stepping down, the move to hire two CEOs raised eyebrows.
“I don’t think it was a tremendous surprise that she was leaving,” said Michael Kupinski, an analyst with Noble Financial. “The bigger surprise is that they went with co-CEOs. It’s rare and it rarely works.”
Despite high grades for Lyne’s management style, MSLO’s stock has lost 57 percent of its value during her tenure.
Yesterday, shares fell further as investors seemed to register both a concern over Lyne’s departure and some skepticism about the new co-CEO structure. The stock closed down 6 percent, or 48 cents, to $7.50 a share.
Koppelman defended the company’s decision to split the CEO role into two.
“Both of those businesses need different skills, that’s why we have co-CEOs,” he said.
One former insider said Lyne and Stewart made an “interesting team.”
“Martha was hard and graceless and Susan was refined, nurturing and supportive,” this person said. “Martha would deliver some kind of denunciation in a meeting and everyone’s jaw would drop and it would be up to Susan to bring it back to Earth. That was her job, to be the human being in the room. After awhile, it had to be stressful.”