James White, chief commercial officer at The London Standard, is to depart the business.
He will remain at the company until the end of November to aid in embedding a new commercial team structure.
White has worked at the Standard (formerly the Evening Standard), as well Standard and Independent parent company ESI Media, for 19 years.
He joined the Standard as a senior sales executive in February 2006. In 2011, he was named head of newspapers and in 2014 chief trading officer at ESI Media. He became Evening Standard chief commercial officer in 2020.
White was instrumental in evolving the Evening Standard into a freesheet in 2009, launching its digital portfolio and steering the business through the Covid-19 pandemic.
As part of the wider ESI group, White also played a role in transitioning The Independent to a digital-only product in 2015. He also helped secure the £24m sale of i to Johnston Press in 2016.
White said: “While I will miss the business and, more importantly, the people within it, I am incredibly proud of the continuous commercial innovation we have delivered. This was achieved with a brilliant and dedicated team who were able to ensure the Standard remained relevant and essential throughout rapid market change.
“As we approach our 200-year anniversary with an exciting new print and digital portfolio, the Standard is now well-placed to thrive.”
It has been a tumultuous year for the storied newspaper. In May, the Evening Standard announced it would transition from a daily print title to a weekly edition. The decision came amid continual shifts in commuting and consumer habits that have affected print readership, as well as years of loss-making.
Last week, the title officially relaunched as a weekly under the new name of The London Standard. Initial weekly distribution has been set at 150,000, with copies sold at 4pm across the capital on Thursdays.
As a result of the frequency change, 150 members of staff were made redundant, including more than half of the newspaper’s 120 full-time journalists.
“While it will be sad to see James leave, I would like to thank him for his endless energy, passion and the commercial leadership he has shown across the last two decades,” Standard executive chairman Albert Read said.
“On behalf of the whole company, we wish James all the best for the future and are excited to see what he does next.”
Evening Standard relaunches as weekly London Standard
