American Media Inc. President and Chief Operating Officer John Miller resigned suddenly, the latest sign of turmoil to hit the embattled company that publishes the National Enquirer, Star and Shape.
Miller’s resignation after more than two years at the company was announced on Friday in an e-mail sent to employees by CEO David Pecker, who said Miller’s resignation was effective Nov. 1.
“All of John’s direct reports will now report to me, effective immediately,” said Pecker.
There appears to be no replacement in line for him.
Miller is the second high-profile executive to be expelled from the company this year. Bonnie Fuller, AMI’s editorial director, was pushed out in May when her contract was not renewed beyond its June termination date. She was paid around $2.4 million in salary and bonus last year.
Sources said Miller had been under pressure from Pecker in recent months as the company tried to solve its financial woes.
Though not actively involved in the effort, Miller had been charged with jump-starting AMI’s ad team, whose performance led AMI to report a 5.5 percent drop in ad pages for the first nine months of the year, according to TNS Media Intelligence.
While those numbers were better than the overall publishing industry’s, the downturn comes at a particularly delicate time for AMI and for Pecker.
The company has been negotiating feverishly with bondholders and its senior lenders, who are owed a combined $1 billion. About $450 million in bondholder debt is due next spring and the company does not have the cash on hand to retire that debt.
AMI earlier had tried to work out a plan that would have given bondholders 20 percent of AMI’s outstanding stock in exchange for more favorable borrowing terms with a longer payback period. But many bondholders are skittish and are said to be pushing to gain majority control of AMI’s stock.
Miller had been personally recruited from Hachette Filipacchi Media by Pecker to join the company in early 2006, and was paid $977,000 last year, split between $550,000 in salary and a bonus of $427,050.
Miller could not be reached for comment.