Andrew Mullins, the boss ESI, which owns London Live, the Independent and The Evening Standard, is to leave his role and take on a new position at Informa as CEO of its knowledge and networking division.
“I have had an incredible seven years working with the teams of the Evening Standard, Independent and London Live and it has been a privilege to do so,” said Mullins.
“Some truly remarkable commercial and editorial people have achieved truly astonishing results over those years and I will genuinely miss working with such brilliant people. I know I leave the business in very capable hands.”
Earlier this year it was announced that owners Alexander and Evgeny Lebedev were looking for a buyer for the Independent and its sister titles in a bid to “offload loss-making papers that they see no prospect of turning into profit.”
The three titles currently make an estimated loss of £10 million a year; however, the Independent’s digital counterpart currently boasts 1.65 million average unique browsers a day after reporting a 16% increase in March and 3.3% increase in May.
Commenting on Mullins’ departure, Evgeny Lebedev said: “I am very grateful to Andy Mullins for his exceptional leadership over the past seven years.
“In that time the Evening Standard has turned a £20 million operating loss into a profit. We have launched the ‘i’ paper, which now outsells the Guardian, and reduced losses for Independent Print Limited from over £20 million to our target of £5 million this year. These undertakings – both hugely ambitious and difficult – would not have happened without him.”
Lebedev added that both the Evening Standard and the Independent titles are currently on “stable footing.”
“ESI Media is at a key stage in its development into a fully integrated company, operating 24/7 across print, digital and now television, with big audiences at city, national and international level,” he said.
“My family has spent close to £100 million on British journalism and we are committed to taking this exciting group of brands from strength to strength.”
Mullins will remain as a non-executive director on the Boards of Evening Standard Limited, Independent Limited and Evening Standard Television Limited and will continue in his role at the company until his successor is announced.
