Finding Executive Talent Without Baggage Is Tough

Michael Hedges February 9, 2022 Follow on Twitter

The Big Quit was an outsized topic of conversation last year, mostly in the US but extending elsewhere. Workers in a variety of settings, fed up with one thing or another, quit their jobs. Some retired early. The great Johnny Paycheck song "Take This Job And Shove It" came to mind. So did Dolly Parton's "9 to 5," theme to a great film. Exasperation at the workplace is not new.

Tied to this is the terrible, odious, malicious, lousy, evil boss. Of course, those designations are value judgements. But some of these miscreants also found themselves out of work. High pressure work environments are not new either, the media sector including. High-flying executives are known - and rewarded - for aggressiveness. Their worst traits, including inappropriate pressures, are being called out.

When German publisher Axel Springer last year relieved tabloid Bild executive editor Julian Reichelt of his employment for inappropriate behaviors toward women employees, the undercurrent within German media was a sigh of relief. The misconduct was reported by the New York Times (NYT) (October 17, 2021) based, in part, on an unpublished investigation by another German publishing group. Impunity was widely called out.

This week, the Financial Times (February 8) published its own investigation. It was damning and screeched to the top of Axel Springer, to chief executive Mathias Döpfner. Those in the top echelons of Axel Springer had hoped the transgressions of Herr Reichelt, detailed in an investigation of the Freshfields law firm, would never see the light of day. “For now we have calm,” said a board member, quoted by the FT. “If it remains that way, it was just a shitty six weeks.”

Publication of the NYT report, coinciding with Axel Springer’s purchase of the Politico news portal, sent company executives burrowing into denials. “Half-truths in the publisher’s statements obscured the scale of (Herr) Reichelt’s wrongdoing,” noted the FT. Had the Freshfields report become public, said one Axel Springer insider to the FT, it would not be “survivable.” Herr Döpfner even suggested mounting a “counter investigation” against the accusers. But, with great reluctance, Herr Reichelt was shed.

Last week Jeff Zucker, chairman of WarnerMedia News and president of CNN Worldwide, resigned, said the company statement (February 2), over an undisclosed “consensual relationship” with an executive. He had led CNN for nearly a decade, prior to which he was an NBC network executive. But his exit has also been tied to the dismissal by Mr. Zucker of CNN show host Chris Cuomo for “improperly advising” his brother, then New York (state) governor Andrew Cuomo, regarding sexual misconduct allegations.

Several US media watchers see Mr. Zucker’s exit as a ruse to deflect the ire of the Cuomo’s, a powerful New York political family. Chris Cuomo is now reported by gossip rag Page Six (February 8) to be asking for a US$60 million payoff instead of the US$18 million remaining under his contract, which Mr. Zucker refused to pay. That sent Mr. Cuomo’s powerful downtown lawyer Bryan Freedman to AT&T.

And that is where others see an even higher level of office politics. Mr. Zucker was known to have been casting about for new opportunities more than a year ago as his relationship with WarnerMedia president Jason Kilar was “toxic.” That settled down once Discovery president David Zaslav, a pal of Mr Zucker from their years at NBC, struck a deal to acquire WarnerMedia - and CNN - from telecom AT&T. Mr. Zucker agreed to remain at least until the merger closed, likely later this year.

AT&T chief executive John Stankey absolutely wants - needs - the WarnerMedia divestment to proceed on schedule. His shareholders want the money and US$60 million for Chris Cuomo is lunch money. Blame for mishandling the Zucker departure falls squarely on Jason Kilar. He’s soon to be out of a job and everybody at CNN will haunt him for the rest of his days. Meanwhile, David Zaslav, who everybody likes, will soon need to recruit a replacement for Jeff Zucker as his major shareholder, John Malone, wants to reinvent CNN. And that’s what we have: the great reinvention.

See also...

• Hot Topics - Axel Springer

• Hot Topics - WarnerMedia/CNN