Last updated: 4:55 pm
July 18, 2008
Posted: 3:33 am
July 18, 2008
THE year of the French is over for "Bid 'Em Up" Bruce Wasserstein.
John French, head of Wasserstein's sprawling trade magazine empire Penton Media, is stepping down. French broke the news to surprised employees yesterday in a "Hello, everyone" e-mail released internally.
French said the decision to leave was a "difficult one," but he added that he would stay on the Penton board and help in the search for his successor.
"This decision has been a difficult one and Penton's board of directors and I have had numerous discussions regarding the organization's evolution and the leadership needs going forward," he wrote. "We believe that my leaving is truly the next step in a significant transformation, which is already well under way across the organization."
In late June the company was given a negative outlook by Standard & Poor's, after being placed on credit watch in April. A new CFO was appointed last month. French did not return a call seeking comment.
The Penton board has two co-chairmen, Anup Bagaria, a longtime and trusted Wasserstein aide who is also the business head of Wasserstein's New York magazine, and Tyler Zachem, a managing director at MidOcean Partners.
Bagaria did not return a call seeking comment.
"The job of a CEO of a traditional media company these days has the life expectancy of a second lieutenant in Vietnam," said Thomas Kemp, founder of the media investment firm Oakstreet Media.
While it is now known as Penton Media, the company is really the culmination of Wasserstein's forays into business-to-business magazines over the past four years, during which he has quietly cobbled together what is now the third-largest business magazine publisher in the country.
Though the spotlight is always on Wasserstein in his roles as the boss of Lazard and the owner of New York magazine, his trade-magazine publishing portfolio is substantial.
Its 113 titles and 150 trade shows are diverse. They include hi-tech titles such as Windows IT Pro, basic nuts-and-bolts mags like American Machinist and farming titles like National Hog Farmer and Hay & Forage Grower.
