Yet Another Editor to Run Fortune Mag (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™/Deck Chair Re-arrangement Alert)

Time Inc. abruptly removed Eric Pooley as the managing editor of Fortune magazine yesterday, and named Andrew Serwer, a senior editor at large, to succeed him, becoming the magazine’s third top editor in less than six years.

John Huey, editor in chief of Time Inc., a unit of Time Warner, gave no reason for the change, which was effective immediately, and did not return calls seeking comment.

Mr. Serwer said in an interview that Mr. Huey had told him over the weekend that he wanted him to take the helm.

“I found out about it a couple of days ago,” he said. “It was a surprise to me that John wanted me to do this job.” He added that Mr. Huey “has a way of making surprising moves sometimes.”

Mr. Huey said in a statement that Mr. Pooley would work with him and with Jim Kelly, the former managing editor of Time magazine, on investigative projects.

Mr. Huey announced the change at a hastily called staff meeting yesterday. People who were there said they were stunned. They said they perceived Mr. Pooley, who took over as managing editor in April 2005, as a strong advocate for long-form journalism and a rigorous if sometimes over-involved editor. The McKinsey consulting firm has been examining efficiencies at the magazine.

Time Inc. has been promoting the conversion of much of the content of its print magazines to other forms, and Mr. Serwer, 47, has been in the forefront of that effort. He writes for Fortune, writes a blog and appears regularly on CNN, becoming what many of his colleagues said they considered to be the public face of the magazine.

http://www.wwd.com/article/print/110353

Memo Pad: Un-Fortunate-Ate... Pass the Kleenex
UN-FORTUNE-ATE: Halloween brought scares of a different kind to the halls of Fortune when staffers learned at a noon meeting that Time Inc. editor in chief John Huey had promoted Andy Serwer to the magazine's managing editor. Serwer replaces Eric Pooley, who was saved from eviction from the Time Inc. offices when he was given an unspecified corporate job working on "investigative projects."

While many regard Serwer as a "good guy" and a "great television brand," many wondered whether he'd have the editorial clout to helm the biweekly business title. An editor at large at Fortune since 1998, Serwer has spent most of his tenure as a columnist, penning the "Street Life" column and longer features on business personalities such as Dell Computers founder Michael Dell. Serwer is also the daily business anchor of CNN's American Morning news show, and has been a fixture on the cable network for more than five years.

But Serwer, who said Huey approached him "a few days ago" for the position, lacks editing experience, save for a stint editing front-of-book pieces for Fortune a decade ago when Huey was its managing editor, nor has he managed a staff of any size. Moreover, his columns and features for the title were considered fluffy by many of his peers (one said his column read like it resulted from making one phone call) and sources close to the magazine heard Huey gripe about Serwer's inability to write big middle-of-the-book features in his early years. "He's everywhere and has done a great job with the brand of Andy Serwer," sniped one business journalist, who described Serwer's columns as "bad jokes behind Wall Street and basketball."

But Serwer's multimedia experience and his brand power are what propelled Huey to give him the job. "I am confident that he will bring his knowledge of both the story and the multimedia landscape to the helm of Fortune in exciting ways that will work to its great advantage in the future," said Huey in a statement. Moreover, Serwer believes his "people skills" will make up for his lack of editing experience.

"I know about working well with people. I know how collaboration works. I've got a great bunch of people around me and they'll help me fill a bunch of holes," said Serwer (though some of those great people are the same ones sources said were passed over for the job, such as editor at large Peter Elkind). And despite the knocks, Fortune staffers are psyched for the fun-loving Serwer's spirit. "What we plan to do is reenergize this place" Serwer added. "We've got some terrific talent coming here dying to do really cool stuff. It's a matter of kicking ass and having fun."

Meanwhile, Pooley's 18-month tenure as managing editor coincided with the business category coming under pressure plus the announcement of new entrant Portfolio, set to launch next spring. Fortune's circulation remained flat for the first half of 2006 at 852,818, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Comparatively, BusinessWeek fell 5.5 percent to 930,722 in the same period. — Stephanie D. Smith

http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/11012006/business/pooley_loses_out_at_fortune_business_keith_j__kelly.htm

New York Post

POOLEY LOSES OUT AT FORTUNE

By KEITH J. KELLY

November 1, 2006 -- In move that one insider described as "a lightning bolt out of the blue," Eric Pooley was removed as the top editor of Fortune and replaced by Andy Serwer, a longtime staffer.

Pooley is moving from the sleepy financial mag to parent Time Inc. to work on investigative pieces.

Serwer, 47, who has a daily gig on CNN and a 50,000-name mailing list for his Internet blog, is seen as a triple threat, which is considered a vital resource in the new Time Inc.

"I understand how media works across three different platforms," said Serwer. On his relative paucity of management experience, the 21-year veteran of Fortune said, "I'll be relying on a lot of good people, but I also think a lot of it is instinctive."

Pooley had little hard-nosed business experience, and his style was said to have rankled the closely knit staff. Many began voting with their feet: Editor-at-Large Joe Nocera, who himself had hoped one day to run the magazine, last year jumped to the New York Times as a columnist. Another star writer, Dan Roth, jumped to Portfolio, the new Condé Nast business title slated to launch next year.

Pooley, who was seen as aloof and detached, frequently worked behind closed doors. At one point in February, he called the staff together to do a public mea culpa, and pledged a more open policy.

But advertising and circulation continued to erode.

http://adage.com/print?article_id=112889
'Fortune' Names Andy Serwer Managing Editor
Columnist Replaces Eric Pooley, Who Will Work on Unspecified Time Inc. Assignment

By Nat Ives

Published: October 31, 2006
NEW YORK (Adage.com) -- Time Inc. has replaced the top editor at Fortune magazine, Eric Pooley, with Andy Serwer, the longtime Fortune columnist and editor at large who is also well-known as the business anchor on CNN's "American Morning." Mr. Serwer took over as managing editor today.

Mr. Pooley, 47, had been managing editor for just 19 months. He is leaving Fortune to work with Time Inc. Editor in Chief John Huey and Managing Editor Jim Kelly on an assignment the company would only say "plays to his strengths in investigative journalism."

At the helm of 'Fortune'
During Mr. Pooley's time at the helm of Fortune, average paid circulation held steady: The magazine reported average paid and verified circulation of 852,818 for the first six months of this year, essentially unchanged from the 857,309 it reported for first half of 2005.

But like most business books, Fortune has seen ad sales slide lately. Its ad pages fell 9.8% in 2005 and lost another 5.6% from January through September, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.

In an internal memo, Mr. Huey said Mr. Serwer's online column nine years ago made him one of the company's first internet stars. That did not appear incidental in today's move.

'A multimedia proposition'
"We all know that the world of business journalism has increasingly become a multimedia proposition, involving not only the magazine but its brand representations on the internet, on television and radio -- wherever the reader wants his or her information," Mr. Huey said. "And no one is more qualified to lead Fortune on those multiple fields of battle than Andy."

Mr. Huey himself was managing editor at Fortune for six years starting in 1995, pleasing his bosses enough that he was given additional oversight of Money magazine in 1997 and was named Fortune Group editor in 2001. He became Time Inc. editor in chief last January.

Mr. Serwer will continue to appear regularly on CNN, which, like Time Inc., is owned by Time Warner.

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