National Post (National Edition)
ANDREW MACLEOD NAMED NEW POSTMEDIA CEO.
Paul Godfrey becomes executive chairman
TORONTO • Postmedia Network Canada Corp. on Thursday announced that Andrew Macleod has been named the company’s new chief executive officer, part of a succession plan that will see longtime chief executive Paul Godfrey remain with the company as executive chairman.
Macleod joined Postmedia in 2014 as chief commercial officer. In 2016, he was named chief operating officer and one year later took over the role of president from Godfrey.
In an interview, Macleod said that he and Godfrey had been discussing the move for some time and that it is part of an “ongoing graceful transition.” In the past three years, the two have developed an “enormously close” relationship, Macleod said.
Godfrey, who spent more than eight years at the helm of Postmedia, said the move was an “obvious” one to make and would “rejuvenate” the company.
“(Andrew is) talented. He deserves the title. He’s performed. He’s grown digital advertising double digits for the last eight quarters. There’s nobody in Canada and very few in the U.S. that have performed like that,” Godfrey said.
“I can bring him some years of experience and help him whenever he needs it,” Godfrey added, noting he has two years left on his contract and plans to be in the office "every day.”
Godfrey said he is looking forward to going out on more sales calls than usual in an effort to drive further revenue toward the company.
Macleod said that the most significant change for him is that he now has sole responsibility for the company.
“Accountability rests on my shoulders as the CEO and I have to be cognizant of that,” Macleod said. “There’s not a layer above me that will insulate me from any decisions that are made.”
Macleod says he will continue to count on Godfrey.
“(Paul) has been in a leadership role in Canadian business and politics for decades,” Macleod said. “I think only a fool wouldn’t want to leverage his experience and connections and his ability to reach out to people and open doors.”
The move was announced on the same day that Postmedia released its first-quarter earnings.
The company posted its eighth-consecutive quarter of double-digit growth in digital advertising revenue, which increased by 10.1 per cent on a year-over-year basis for the three month period ending Nov. 30, 2018. In total, digital revenue increased 4.65 per cent to $32.7 million.
The gains in digital, however, were not enough to offset losses in print advertising and circulation of $14 million and $4.5 million, respectively, as compared to the same three months in 2017. As a result, total revenue dropped to $171.3 million from $189 million.
Like most traditional media companies, Postmedia is attempting to operate in a market that sees the vast majority of digital advertising dollars gobbled up by U.S. technology giants Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
The change in leadership will not result in an alteration to Postmedia’s strategy, which involves extending its “runway” as it continues to transition toward being able to compete on a more level playing field in the digital world, Macleod said. The plan is working, he said, and the eight-consecutive quarters of double-digit growth prove it.
“The strategy is in place and now we have to execute it more quickly, if anything,” MacLeod said.
Post media also continues to pay down debt from its recapitalization in 2016. The company was able to repay $8.7 million in the first quarter, noting that its first-lien debt had been reduced by 53 per cent since October 2016. A further $20.4 million will be soon be repaid, a result of the sale of the Ottawa Citizen office building, which took place after the end of the quarter.
Future efforts in the company’s transition may be aided by a five-year, $600-million pledge from the federal government to assist traditional news organizations. Macleod said it’s difficult to know how much the package will help Postmedia because few details about how the money is going to be distributed are known, but that it could be “quite material for us.”
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” he said.