In search of a digital savior
The magazine industry is still searching for a Moses to lead them to the digital Promised Land, but legit prophets are hard to come by. Time Warner ran into this problem this past year, when Ann Moore, the head of its magazine division Time Inc., left her job in August 2010, after 32 years with the company. Time Inc. owns about 115 magazines (including Fortune.)
Jack Griffin seemed like a good fit -- he was formerly the president of Meredith Corp's magazine group. "I have believed for some time that Jack is the right person to be the next CEO of Time Inc., and I couldn't be more pleased that he will lead this company into the future," Moore said in a statement.
But after just six months on the job, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes made it clear that he didn't agree. In an email to staff in February, Bewkes said that Griffin's management style "did not mesh with Time Inc. and Time Warner."
In November, Bewkes announced that Digitas CEO Laura Lang would fill the vacant chief exec spot at the magazine publisher in January.