Hearst’s Young makes his mark with firings

HEARST Magazines’

new president, Troy Young, started his shakeup by giving the old heave-ho in recent days to two executives hired by the previous regime, Media Ink has learned.

Jon Gluck, executive director of editorial talent, development and special projects, is out. He only joined in September 2017, recruited by the now former chief content officer, Joanna Coles.

He came from Condé Nast, where he had been the managing editor of Vogue.

At the time, his appointment was seen as a way for Coles to recruit talent but also push into new businesses in areas such as Airbnbmag and TV shows without butting heads with Young. All digital editors reported to Young, who was president of Hearst Magazines Digital Media until his elevation in late July to replace David Carey as the head of magazines.

Also out in recent days is Flavie Lemarchand-Wood, vice president of communications for Hearst Magazines, who also joined the company in September 2017, from Priceline.

The staffers let go appear to have been loyalists to Coles, who announced her exit days after Young was elevated over her.

Print editors are said to be worried, but one knowledgeable insider said the editorial hubs that Coles started in recent years to cut costs on the print side will be the first to go in a restructuring.

Holly Whidden, the head of the talent and entertainment hub and a co-executive producer of “The Bold Type” on Disney’s Freeform channel, is telling friends she would not be surprised to be next to go.

The other heads of centralized hubs in fashion, beauty and photos are also vulnerable, insiders say.

Editor-in-chief changes may be further down the road in October or November as Young tries to put his stamp on Hearst, said a source who is close to the company. “The pattern isn’t about individual EICs right now,” said the source. “It’s about the structure Joanna Coles created.”

While print editors are worried, digital editors are expected to advance. The buzz is that Cosmo.com editor Jessica Pels is already destined for a big new appointment in the days ahead.

Kate Lewis, who was editorial director of digital media and like Young once worked at the turbulent Say Media, was elevated on Aug. 8 to Coles’ old position, becoming only the second person in corporate history to hold the title.

Workout

Several of the largest creditors of Latina Media, owned by private equity firm Solera Capital, have formed an informal committee of unsecured creditors to try to work out a deal with the publisher of Latina magazine and the Latin Kitchen Web site that would avoid a formal court bankruptcy filing.

“It is [Latina Media’s] stated goal to raise funding to enable it to settle its obligations with its credi- tors,” according to a memo from Alan Halperin, a lawyer with the Halperin Battaglia Benzija law firm, who heads the committee.

Some of Latina Media’s largest unsecured creditors include printer LSC Communications, Rocket Fuel and Leverage Media Sales.

Sam Grafton, a lawyer representing LSC Communications said, “We have no interest in talking to you,” when Media Ink called.

Halberin said in a July 31 memo obtained by Media Ink that the unsecured creditors committee, “requests that creditors refrain from pursuing legal action while we negotiate on behalf of all creditors” for an economic resolution.

Molly Ashby, the chairwoman of Solera, did not return calls seeking comment.

A Getty get

The Getty family said it has reached an agreement to take full control of Getty Images, buying out the 51 percent stake held by private equity firm The Carlyle Group.

The deal gives Getty Images a valuation of $3 billion, according to the Financial Times, slightly less than the $3.3 billion it had when Carlyle bought its stake six years ago with $500 million in equity and a mountain of debt that it has been trying to refinance.

The company, which provides photos to publishers, TV stations and advertisers, has been hurt in recent years by the rise of digital images available for free on the Internet and new, lower-cost competitors such as Shutterfly.

Mark Getty, a grandson of the oil tycoon Jean Paul Getty, will become chairman of the board, succeeding current chairman and Getty Images co-founder Jonathan Klein, who will become the deputy chairman.

Klein and Mark Getty founded the photo stock company 23 years ago. As part of the transaction, Chief Operating Officer Craig Peters will become CEO, succeeding current chief Dawn Airey, who will become a non-executive director.

Interim CFO Rik Powell will become CFO