The firing, first reported by Politico, became official with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday morning, and Justin Dearborn has been named the new CEO.
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Dearborn most recently was CEO of Merge, a healthcare technology company that was acquired by IBM in October.
The speed of Ferro’s takeover and his ultimate goals for Tribune Publishing raise questions about the timing of Gerry Kern’s retirement last week as editor of the Chicago Tribune. The company said he was instrumental in the spin-off that created Tribune Publishing and cited his work managing costs. The company’s diverse portfolio of iconic news and information brands includes 11 award-winning major daily titles, more than 60 digital properties and more than 180 verticals in markets, including Los Angeles; San Diego; Chicago; South Florida; Orlando; Baltimore; Carroll County and Annapolis, Md.; Hartford, Conn.; Allentown, Pa.; and Newport News, Va. Tribune Publishing also offers an array of customized marketing solutions, and operates a number of niche products, including Hoy, El Sentinel and VidaLatina, making Tribune Publishing the country’s largest Spanish-language publisher.
The company spent four years in bankruptcy proceedings and later broke itself into two pieces, with its more profitable television stations becoming Tribune Media. Tribune desperately needed Ferro’s cash.
The CEO of Tribune Publishing has been unexpectedly and suddenly ousted. Dearborn has worked for Ferro since 1997.
Chicago investor Ferro took a board-level post at Tribune earlier this month after he invested $44 million for a 16.6 percent stake in Tribune, which also owns the Chicago Tribune and the San Diego Union-Tribune.
March 2 could be a key date as the story unfolds.
Griffin was initially hired as a consultant to streamline the publishing assets in advance of the Tribune Publishing spinoff from Tribune Media, which retained higher-margin broadcasting assets and real estate holdings. Dearborn, 46, will be paid 0,000 a year with a 70 percent bonus as Tribune CEO, according to the SEC statement. In 2010, he became CEO of Time Inc.
Tribune Publishing is expected to make the announcement of the change before the stock market opens on Tuesday.
Griffin’s acquisition strategy brought the Union-Tribune, the Sun-Times suburban papers and two Maryland papers into the Tribune Publishing fold.
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“I believe Tribune Publishing has a significant opportunity to leverage technology to increase the value of its content and distribution channels”, Dearborn said in a statement.
