By Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg
Time Warner Inc. unveiled a 10-member board, featuring veteran
media executives with strong backgrounds in television, for its
soon-to-be stand-alone publishing unit Time Inc., a sign that new
Chief Executive Joseph Ripp is hoping to diversify the magazine
unit into video, among other businesses.
Among the new board is Dennis FitzSimons, the former chief
executive of the publisher-broadcaster Tribune Co.; David Bell,
chief executive of marketing services company Slipstream
Communications LLC and a former senior adviser to Google Inc.;
former Sony Corp. Chief Executive Howard Stringer; former USA
Networks chief Kay Koplovitz and John Fahey, the former chief
executive of the National Geographic Society.
Time Inc. is one of the country's pre-eminent magazine
publishers, led by People, which generated nearly 19% of Time
Inc.'s revenue in 2013. Other magazine properties include Time,
Sports Illustrated and Entertainment Weekly.
In recent years the company has suffered declining subscription
and print ad revenues. In March 2013, Time Warner revealed plans to
spin the company off as a separate public company, a restructuring
expected to be completed during the second quarter.
Mr. Ripp said the board will provide Time Inc. with know-how in
the traditional publishing arena as well as the broader video
sector and online, noting that consumers are accessing its content
in "vastly different" ways.
"We're one of the most successful content producers in the
U.S.," said Mr. Ripp, who is the board's only insider. "Now we have
to take it to multiple platforms. The diversity of the board will
let us do that."
Ralph Walkling, executive director of the Center for Corporate
Governance at Drexel University's business school, noted some board
members have "startup and advertising experience, which is a
definite positive." Mr. Bell, for example, is the former chief
executive of the Interpublic Group of Cos., an ad-holding
company.
Michael Kassan, chief executive officer of MediaLink LLC, a
media- and ad-consulting firm, said the range of experience would
be helpful for Time Inc., which faces declining print ad revenues
in the magazine industry.
"These aren't shrinking violet board members," Mr. Kassan said.
"You don't want somebody who has always had it easy. You want
people who have struggled, who have been in the trenches in
emerging spaces."
Mr. Kassan said Time Inc.'s biggest challenge as a stand-alone
company will be convincing investors that its businesses can be
broader than simply print. The company is already doing that by
creating content on digital platforms, he added.
Write to Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at
jeffrey.trachtenberg@wsj.com
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