#Hearst Magazines replaces CEO after employee outcry over ‘toxic culture’

Debi Chirichella, EVP and chief financial officer, was named acting president of Hearst Magazines, and will run the owner of  Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, and O, the Oprah Magazine “in the days and weeks ahead,” Hearst Chief Executive Steve Swartz told staff in a Friday memo.

For the moment there are no other executive changes planned, although there is still great angst in the ranks. One source said more than a dozen staffers were preparing complaints.

“There is very definitely a sizable faction that is demanding more blood,” said one manager.

In the wild turn of events on Thursday, Young and Hearst had initially tried to salvage the situation, claiming that while the comments were crass, it was not a #MeToo case of predatory sexual behavior that had felled other executives. With the blessing of the C-suite, Young at mid-day Thursday released an apologetic memo to staffers directly apologizing for what he acknowledged were inappropriate comments quoted in an article by the New York Times.

In the initial article, a Hearst spokeswoman was quoted defending Young and saying he had taken measures to increase diversity in the company since he became president. And Young said many of the quotes attributed to him were not true, greatly exaggerated or taken out of context.

That seemed to only enflame the situation internally, and momentum built against him as the day rolled on. Said one insider, “Younger staffers in particular were really hurt and disgusted and rebelled.”

One source said the article, which detailed lewd and sexist comments, triggered others to begin preparing new complaints about bullying and harrassment. While sources said the new wave of complaints never reached the C-level, the company was in turmoil.

In addition, some staffers involved in the unionization drive with the Writers Guild of America East were making plans to reach out to Oprah Winfrey and CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King, who is also a masthead editor on O, the Oprah Magazine to get them to intervene on behalf of upset staffers.

King and Oprah had not returned calls and it was not clear if the outreach had been made.

Hearst officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for further comment on Friday.

Whatever support Young had Thursday began to erode by the end of the day. Sources said chairman emeritus Frank Bennack, who still has clout behind the scenes, was never a big Troy Young fan from the day he was tapped to succeed David Carey as president in the fall of 2018.

One source with knowledge of the situation said that as Thursday wore on, “it was clear it was not survivable. Younger women were too upset.” And some Hearst family members, who are not active in the day to day operation of the company were said to be aghast.

Finally at the end of the day Thursday, Hearst Corp. CEO Steve Swartz issued a one-sentence memo stating that Troy Young and himself had decided it was best for Young to resign “effective immediately.”

“The staff is still shocked from the roller coaster of Hearst backing Troy in the Times,” said one source. “There is lots of anger that he was elevated (to succeed David Carey in the fall of 2018) after earlier complaints when he was running digital.”

And there is speculation that others that were put into power at Hearst could follow him out the door. Particular attention is focusing on Kate Lewis, Young’s handpicked chief content officer who, like Young, is a veteran of Say Media. Young’s former boss at Say Media, Matt Sanchez, was hired by Young to run Hearst’s sizable automotive titles.

Said one executive, “Debi is not part of the Troy/Kate/Matt axis. She predates them. Known as tough but fair and exceptionally smart and competent.”