Tronc chairman leaves before misconduct story published
Michael Ferro stepped down from the board of Tronc on Monday, hours before Fortune published a story online accusing him of inappropriate sexual behavior toward two women while in his previous role as head of a Chicago investment firm.
Ferro had been chairman of Tronc's board since February 2016, when he took a major stake in the Chicagobased newspaper chain that includes the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times.
The Fortune story alleges that in 2013, Ferro engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior toward Katheryn Minshew, CEO and co-founder of The Muse, a career and job-search website. Ferro had invested in her startup a year earlier and had promised to invest more, Fortune said. Minshew said Ferro forcibly kissed her after signing a $750,000 capital infusion term sheet for Muse at his corporate apartment in Chicago, according to Fortune.
In a separate incident, Hagan Kappler, an executive at manufacturing giant Ingersoll Rand, told Fortune that Ferro groped her in his Las Vegas hotel suite at what she thought would be a meeting to discuss thermostats.
Fortune also talked to nine former staffers working for Sun-Times publications during Ferro's control of the paper who described an “uncomfortable workplace” for women.
After the article's publication Monday, Tronc spokeswoman Marisa Kollias said there have been no claims of sexual harassment filed against Ferro since he became chairman and the largest shareholder of the chain in February 2016. In related developments:
Embattled casino mogul Steve Wynn brokered a settlement more than a decade ago with a second woman who accused him of sexual misconduct and recently reported her to the FBI, his attorneys say in court documents.
The president of billionaire Steven Cohen's investment firm in Connecticut has resigned, shortly after the firm was sued over alleged hostile, sexist and discriminatory conduct by male executives.
Douglas Haynes resigned from Stamford-based Point72 Asset Management on Friday. A company spokeswoman declined to comment on whether Haynes' departure was related to the lawsuit.