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| Timothy Knight |
Tribune Publishing CEO Timothy Knight is heading out the door, and will be replaced by company chief financial officer Terry Jimenez. Knight joined Tribune Publishing as president in 2017 and was named CEO in January 2019 following the departure of Justin Dearborn. Jimenez, who came to the company from IBM in 2016, has also served as president of Newsday Media Group and controller at the Chicago Tribune. Alden Global Capital, a New York hedge fund known for extreme cost-cutting and layoffs at newspapers it acquires, purchased a 32 percent stake in Tribune in November. Following that investment, two Alden representatives were added to the company’s board. In a Feb. 3 memo to Tribune employees, Knight said that the company needs to realign its costs “to the current revenue reality.” Tribune Publishing reported revenue of $236 million in last year’s third quarter, down from $255.8 million for the same period in 2018. On Jan. 13, the company offered its latest round of voluntary buyouts to staffers, with any staffer with eight or more years of service being eligible.
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HOLA!USA, which targets affluent U.S. Latinas, is discontinuing its print operations in favor of focusing its attention on the digital and social media spaces. The brand, which offers its content in both English and Spanish, also plans to expand its existing platforms, which include social media channels and the HOLA.com sites, by launching a YouTube channel and dedicated podcast later this year. It will also make additional hires in digital, e-commerce, video production and social. HOLA!USA says its online audience is 80 percent female, with an average age of 32 and HHI of $85,000 per year. Spanish company HELLO! & ¡HOLA! Media, Inc. currently publishes 29 international editions in 10 languages across five continents.
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| George Cheeks |
ViacomCBS has appointed George Cheeks president and CEO of CBS Entertainment Group. Cheeks replaces Joe Ianniello, who became acting CEO following the exit of Leslie Moonves in 2018 in the wake of sexual harassment charges. Cheeks comes to CBS from NBCUniversal, where he was most recently vice chairman, NBCUniversal Content Studios. Before coming to NBC, Cheeks was executive vp, business affairs and general counsel for Viacom Music and Entertainment Group and also served as head of standards and practices for Viacom Media. Ianniello had long been Moonves’ top deputy, and aided the former CBS chief in his battle with CBS controlling shareholder Shari Redstone over control of the company. Cheeks will assume the CEO slot effective March 23.
McClatchy, which owns 29 daily papers across 14 states (including The Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee and Kansas City Star), launches a wave of layoffs that extends to at least 13 of those papers... The Toledo Blade, which was founded in 1835, is set to shut down on Dec. 31, unless owner Block Communications manages to find a buyer for it... A bill awaiting approval by California governor Gavin Newsom would give local newsrooms a boost. 
Fox News Media issued a pretty sparse release to announce the departure of one of its stars. “Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media,” it reads.
Brunswick Group partner John Simons has joined CNN as senior director of business & media. He held top jobs at Time and the Wall Street Journal.
WNET, the nation’s largest public media company, names Edward O’Keefe its next president and CEO, effective September 21. O’Keefe succeeds Neal Shapiro, who becomes president emeritus and will retire at the end of the year... The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, which would empower news publishers and other content providers to defend themselves by mandating transparency for all bots crawling their sites, in introduced in the House by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC)... Google gets socked by European Union regulators with a $1 billion fine for using the platform’s dominance as a search engine to illegally undercut competition.
Boston Globe Media acquires InstaTrac, a company that provides subscription-based services aimed at making government information easier to find, track, and understand... AARP names former New Republic CEO and publisher Michael Caruso as its SVP and chief content officer, unifying the organization's portfolio of media, live events and digital platforms... The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit, awards its inaugural Journalism Excellence Fellowships.
