JOHN Koten editor- turned-CEO of Fast Company and Inc, has had his reign come to an abrupt end.
Sources confirmed that he stepped down from Mansueto Ventures, effective immediately.
Koten was seen as a cantankerous and introverted boss, infamous for firing off abusive memos in the middle of the night to subordinates and turning up at the office at the crack of noon in blue jeans and a rumpled shirt.
“He never made it to a meeting on time,” said one source.
But Koten also has a softer side. He would invite employees to bring their children on his sailboat, Planet Claire, for Take Your Children to Work Day.
One exec countered: He embraced a “hockey brawl” style of management. “He was a big hockey fan. He loved it when people would fight each other.”
Koten would often sit quietly observing as employees conducted knock-down, drag-out screaming matches with one another, said a source.
His responsibilities are now being assumed by an unwieldy triumvirate composed of two chief editors — Bob Safian at Fast Company and Jane Berentson at Inc — and CFO Mark Rosenberg.
“Nobody knows if this is permanent or it’s just while they do a CEO search,” said one source. But the word inside that Koten is taking a “leave of absence” is being greeted with total skepticism.
Mansueto Ventures is owned by Morningstar founder Joe Mansueto, who rescued the troubled company from the ashes of the old Gruner + Jahr USA in the spring of 2005, paying what was believed to be the rock bottom price of $20 million for the two magazines that were losing $10 million a year.
Last year, losses were estimated to be in the $17-million range. This year, Inc is down 33 percent through May, according to Media Industry Newsletter while Fast Company is off 37.8 percent in ad pages.
Launch
Jane Leong, group publisher and managing director of CR Media, jetted in from Singapore to do what many thought was an impossible task: Launch a new upscale luxury magazine called Prestige New York in the midst of a prolonged economic slump that has been particularly hard on its target — luxury advertisers.
The debut issue hits this week.
“This is the first stepping stone for us outside the Asian market,” Leong, told Media Ink.
Her nine-year-old upscale publishing company does about $20 million a year in revenue from nine different magazines, including five different Asian editions of Prestige, a licensing deal with the French magazine L’Official, and a licensing deal with Ziff Davis, where she still publishes a Malaysian print version of PC Magazine.
Leong said she plans to spend $3.5 million to $4 million over the next two years on the New York version, which plans to publish 10 issues a year, each with 50,000 free circulation.
The debut issue features Russian real estate developer Janna Bullock on the cover. The next issue has Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud scheduled for the cover.
The photo shoot has already taken place, it’s just a matter for Editor Rhonda Palmer to select the shot she wants for the cover. Publisher Ray Chelstowski said he has 43 ad pages in the first edition and used the database marketing firm Lark Spur to identify individuals with $10 Million-plus in annual revenue who will re ceive the debut issue.
“Advertisers aren’t looking for a lot of vol ume,” said Chelstowski, “they are looking to reach those people, who are still spending money.”
Annie Leibovitz is under fire on a wide range of finan cial fronts, but the fabled len swoman is still golden in the magazine world.
Next week, Media Ink has learned that the American Society of Magazine Editors will make its first ever “Creative Excellence Award” to honor Leibovitz for her body of work over the past four decades in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair Vogue and elsewhere.
ASME’s so-called Golden Elephant awards have traditionally gone to magazines and the editors since the award’s inception 44-years ago, never to individual writers, photographers or contribu tors. Leibovitz marks a first. She’ll pick up the award at the National Magazine Awards banquet on April 30.
It’s been a whirlwind couple of days for Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham after his bio, “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House” won a Pulitzer Prize for biography on Monday.
Random House announced that its trade paperback division was speeding up the release date for the paperback edition to the end of this month — from the planned November date. keith.kelly@nypost.com