Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia said today that CEO Lisa Gersh is stepping down after just five months atop the domestic diva’s rapidly shrinking empire.
The move confirms an exclusive report in The Post that Gersh, a former TV executive, was headed for the exits as the unprofitable company pares back its publishing business to focus on expanding merchandise.
The company also confirmed that a headhunter had been hired to find a replacement for Gersh, who will step down after a transition period. Shares of the company fell 3 percent, to $2.50, on the news.
The official announcement came in a joint memo to staffers this morning from Gersh and Stewart, who is also majority owner, non-executive chairman and chief creative officer.
Surviving in the CEO spot has always been challenging as Stewart has a reputation as micro-manager who doesn’t want executives making key decisions.
“I call it the Murphy Brown syndrome,” said Michael Kupinski, a media analyst with Noble Financial Partners, referring to the ’90s TV show that starred Candice Bergen as a sharp-tongued news anchor who had trouble retaining assistants.
While Stewart has not reclaimed the CEO title since she served a five-month prison sentence for lying to investigators probing her sale of personal stock, she remains the indomitable power within the company.
She controls about 70 percent of the stock and receives $2 million in salary and bonus, plus another $2.1 million paid to her real estate company for use of her homes and studios.
Gersh, a former president and COO of Oxygen Media, was hired as president and COO in mid-2011, in part to help revive the company’s lagging media fortunes. She was elevated to CEO in July.
However, her hiring has not reversed the company’s losses. In January, the Hallmark Channel canceled Stewart’s talk show. Her only regular TV gig is “Martha Stewart’s Cooking School” on PBS.
The publishing portfolio has also been battered, with the company shutting down Whole Living magazine and Everyday Food and firing about 70 people in recent weeks.
kkelly@nypost.com