Hearst said set on just short-term Rodale lease
HEARST
finalized its estimated $225 million deal to acquire Rodale earlier this week, and sources say it is expected to sign a lease for the Rodale HQ in sleepy Emmaus, Pa.
But it doesn’t appear to be a longterm rental.
The lease term is likely to be measured in months, not years, and could be ended by September, sources said. What happens after that regarding Rodale’s long-term presence in Emmaus is up in the air.
Separately, as many as 150 backshop employees could soon be gone as those duties are taken over by Hearst, sources said.
The deal was completed Tuesday, so Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Runner’s World and other former Rodale titles are all officially under the Hearst umbrella.
The Rodale-owned real estate in Emmaus and elsewhere in the Lehigh Valley was included in the sale.
“We know that a prolonged sales process can add a lot of stress on an organization,” Hearst Magazines President David Carey wrote in an e-mail to Rodale staffers once the deal closed.
“We appreciate your professionalism over the past few months,” Carey added, “and we will be in touch early next week with more details on the plans to bring Hearst and Rodale together.”
Maria Rodale, who is pocketing millions as the last chief executive of the family-run corporation founded by grandfather J.I. Rodale, said in a second e-mail to staffers that her four top executives — Chief Operating Officer Beth Buehler, General Counsel Paul McGinley, Chief Financial Officer Steve Twilliger and human resources boss Miranda DeSantis — are already out.
The memo was first reported by the Allentown Morning Call.
“Together we have navigated the fiercest storms our industry has ever faced,” Rodale wrote to staff- ers. ‘With all my heart, I believe we can be truly proud of what we have accomplished together.”
Condé adieu
Condé Nast saw two top ad executives resign this week.
Lisa Valentino, who was the head of the Industry & Agency group — designed to corral big advertisers across multiple titles and digital products — resigned. No replacement was named. Chris Gibbons, who was in charge of ad sales to business, financial and tech companies, also turned in his resignation.
Gibbons told Media Ink that he is joining Teads.tv as managing director. He is being replaced by Doug Grinspan, who was vice president of revenue.
Neither Valentino nor Gibbons could be reached at press time.
Pamela Drucker Mann, the chief marketing officer who took over the No. 2 executive slot in the company from former president of revenue Jim Norton, began her Thursday memo to staffers that announced the latest changes by saying: “2018 is off to a great start,” with six $1 million deals closed in the last week of 2017.
Sweeping staff cuts are still anticipated in the weeks ahead as Condé Nast labors through Chief Executive Bob Sauerberg’s “transformation plan” designed to slash $100 million in costs.
The resignations this week were apparently not part of a wider restructuring that insiders worry will be unveiled in the weeks ahead.
Lower down in the hierarchy, two smaller promotions were announced: Evan Adlman becomes senior vice president of enterprise sales, and Craig Kostelic, chief business officer of the lifestyle group, is charged with selling to the spirits industry as well.
BuzzBleed
BuzzFeed Business Editor Jennifer Kingson has resigned after only five months and been replaced by Tech Editor Mat Honan.
The news was first reported by Talking Biz News, which said Honan will now oversee tech, business and science reporting as part of a realignment on the desks.
“I left BuzzFeed of my own accord — the job wasn’t the right fit for me,” Kingson, a 13-year veteran of the NY Times, told Media Ink. “The skills and talents I had honed over many years at the Times were not the right match for the particular role I took on at BuzzFeed. I left with no ill will, either on my side or on theirs.”
Bloom-borg news
Megan Murphy, the editor of Bloomberg Businessweek who undertook a sweeping redesign last spring, is stepping away and will be replaced by Joel Weber, who has been running sister title Bloomberg Markets since 2012. Murphy had returned to Bloomberg in 2015 to work in its Washington bureau, and was in the top job for just over a year — taking over from Ellen Pollock. (Pollock landed five months later as the New York Times Business Day editor.) Murphy is leaving to spend more time with her family — which includes a daughter living in London. She had spent a long stretch working for the Financial Times there.