Time Warner tapped Laura Lang, CEO of digital ad agency Digitas, to be the new CEO of Time Inc., the nation’s largest magazine publisher.
Lang is an outsider who will have to grapple with the rapidly changing media environment, where digital is a growing part of the mix, but where the publishing division still counts on print for the overwhelming portion of its $3.68 billion in annual revenues.
Last year, despite a revenue drop, operating profit was up 3.5 percent to $356 million.
News of Lang’s appointment was first reported by NYPost.com yesterday morning.
The appointment brings to a close a nearly 10-month search to find a replacement for Jack Griffin, who was booted in February by TW boss Jeff Bewkes. Bewkes said that Griffin’s “leadership style and approach did not mesh with Time Inc and Time Warner.”
In an interview, Lang, 56, said her biggest challenge will be “how to move and transform an established business model into a more digital one.”
She said Time Warner “reached out to me awhile ago and I finally had a meeting with Jeff [Bewkes]. She said she reached a deal with Bewkes “fairly quickly” and said they have a “shared vision” for Time Inc.