Telegraph Execs Ousted As Reshuffle Continues
The on-going management reshuffle at the Daily Telegraph has claimed the jobs of a further two executives, with commercial director Mark Payne and group sales director Chris White-Smith becoming the latest casualties in the Barclay brothers’ high-level restructuring.
According to reports this morning, Payne will be replaced by David King, currently managing director of Emap Advertising. Both Payne and White-Smith are understood to have stepped down on Friday following a meeting with Telegraph chief executive, Murdoch MacLennan.
According to a report in the Guardian, Maclennan believes that advertising sales have underperformed in recent months and is now examining new strategies to grow the revenues of both the Daily and Sunday Telegraph.
The move follows the surprise departure of managing director Hugo Drayton and finance director Niamh O’Donnell-Keenan earlier this year, marking a continued focus on management restructuring by the newspapers’ new owners (see Telegraph Bosses Jump Ship As Barclays Plot New Course).
Both of the Telegraph titles have seen their circulation decrease recently, a situation clearly at the head of MacLennan’s agenda, with the Daily Telegraph losing 1.9% year on year in the six months to October, while its Sunday sister title lost 1.6% in the same period.
Over the past five years the situation looks much worse, with the Daily Telegraph losing 13.1% and the Sunday Telegraph haemorrhaging 15% of its circulation.
Before joining the Telegraph MacLennan was group managing director at Associated Newspapers, being headhunted by the Barclay brothers at the beginning of the year. Maclennan’s appointment was the first major move following the brothers’ £665m acquisition of the Telegraph Group (see Telegraph Raids Rival Associated For New Chief Executive).
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