No sooner had the bombshell announcement hit that former Hearst magazine head honcho Cathie Black had been bounced as schools chancellor by Mayor Mike Bloomberg, than speculation started swirling about her possible return to the media world.
Already two landing spots — both vacant — have been mentioned: Time Inc. CEO and the chief of NPR. Jack Griffin was ousted as Time Inc.’s head after only five months on the job. The company blamed a corporate culture clash, while Griffin’s supporters said entrenched insiders chaffed at his rapid-fire changes. Vivian Schiller resigned as NPR’s chief because the board decided that a number of controversies during her tenure had become too distracting for her to continue.
Meanwhile, nobody could accuse Black of moving too fast in her first 100 days, after being booted only 96 days in the top spot. Her reign — rocky from the get-go because she lacked a background in education — was made worse by well-publicized and embarrassing verbal gaffes.
Black’s strong suit at Hearst was team- and consensus-building, and it seems Time Inc. and NPR could use healthy doses of both. Even so, Black is considered a long shot for either opening. As one well placed source said, “They [Time Inc.] want someone with digital chops, and that person is not Cathie.”
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes and his short-lived Time Inc. CEO, Griffin, quietly signed off on an out-of-court settlement several weeks ago, sources said. That avoids the specter of a nasty legal fight, which both sides seemed anxious to avoid, and clears the way for a successor search to begin.
Time Warner handled the CEO search for Griffin, who replaced Ann Moore, internally. This time around, sources said the company has decided to an outside headhunter, and has hired Heidrick & Struggles for the task.
Since the ouster of Griffin, the company has been run by a triumvirate of Time Inc. editor-in-chief John Huey, chief legal officer Maurice Edelson and chief financial officer Howard Averill. The triumvirate is expected to run the company for a while, and one source even placed the odds of the trio getting the job on a permanent basis at “50-50.”
Yesterday, Huey co-hosted the internal Henry R. Luce Awards, Time Inc.’s in-house pat on the back for its roster of magazines. Huey made reference to the turmoil, joking that after a “bumpy year” the com pany seemed to be running “just fine” without a CEO.
Huey handed a special award to Carol Loomis, the veteran Fortune writer and bridge playing pal of Warren Buffett, as the longest continuously serving employee at Time Inc. She has been on the job 57 years and 10 days.
Perhaps with a look over its shoulder at the newly revamped Newsweek under Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown, Time Inc. yesterday gave Time its “Magazine of the Year” award and also honors for “Cover of the Year” to one depicting an Afghan woman whose nose had been cut off by the Taliban.
I’m home
The red-hot home decorating and design site, Lonnymag.com, overseen by a one-time editor of Domino magazine, Michelle Adams, and her business partner, Patrick Klein, is teaming up with the Meredith’s Traditional Home magazine.
On April 12, they will launch Tradhomemag.com. “It will be 100 percent original content,” said Traditional Home publisher Beth Brenner, and not a digital rendition of the print magazine. Two editions are planned for the moment, the current one and one more next fall.
“I’m constantly asked where did all the Domino readers go,” said Brenner, who was the publisher of the Condé Nast title when the 800,000-circulation magazine was suddenly folded in early 2009, leaving many of its loyal readers bereft. “I honestly believe they’ve gone not to other magazines but into the digital world.
Pow-wow
Hearst executives took some time off from their executive powwow in Washington, DC, to sit down with President Obama at the White House.
Obama, who was questioned by Popular Mechanics editor Jim Meighs, Harper’s Bazaar publisher Valerie Salembier and Esquire editor David Granger, spoke on the record but offered no prediction on whether a government shutdown could be avoided.
With the clock still ticking on the shut down, Vice President Joe Biden is expected to address the Hearst executives this afternoon.
Elsewhere, Hearst said yesterday it will collaborate with HGTV on a new lifestyle magazine, HGTV Magazine, which is still being billed as a test. The first issue will roll out in the fall, and a second test issue will hit in January 2012. Sara Peterson is the launch editor. kkelly@nypost.com