ACP boss Phil Scott departs
ACP Magazines boss Phil Scott is to leave the company. He will be replaced by the company’s chief financial officer Matt Stanton.
The announcement:
ACP Magazines Managing Director Phil Scott has announced he will step down at the end of 2011.
“Now is the right time for me, personally and professionally, to bring to a close my 10 years of full-time involvement in the business and a career in journalism spanning nearly 36 years in total.”
Scott, 58, “will continue to consult to ACP on its 2012 launch program,” said Nine Entertainment Company Chief Executive, David Gyngell.
“Phil is a legend in the magazine business and a man for whom I have nothing but the greatest respect. He is responsible for securing ELLE and Women’s Fitness for us as his final major achievement.
“He leaves his full-time role with ACP’s trophy cabinet full of peer- and industry- judged magazine awards over the past two years. He has appointed a great team of editors and publishers, has unified our editorial culture, and leaves a strong succession plan. I am personally sorry to see such an outstanding character step down from day-to-day operations, but I understand and respect Phil’s decision not to renew his contract next year.”
Scott paid tribute to his publishing team and editors. “There is never a good time for me to leave a business I’ve been passionate about for so long, but there is now a great group of people to pick up the baton as I make the transition to a lower level of intensity and more time for my family and myself. It’s been great fun, and I leave with a sense of satisfaction in my contribution to the business, and very content with my lot.”
Scott will step down at the end of December.
“His replacement will be ACP’s current Chief Operating Officer and CFO, Matt Stanton,” said Mr Gyngell.
“Matt is an outstanding magazine executive with excellent experience from his time with ACP and before that Emap in the UK. He is across all the opportunities and challenges facing the business and will lead ACP through its next phase of growth,” Mr Gyngell said.
Before we all rush into “Did he jump or was he pushed?” territory, as somebody who has worked with ‘Scotty’ let me say that he’s as brilliant a journalist and editor as he was a sharp but ruthless publisher.
Phil is certain to have gotten more than a few people offside at ACP, including ex-editors by his hand and deputies who never got the nod to take that final step up
Is his time up because he failed to position ACP Magazines for the public listing which the VC vultures who now run ACP wanted? If so, they’re losing one of the few blokes who can successfully straddle editorial, advertising AND management.
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(PS The bit about ex-editors doesn’t mean they had anything to do with his demise, that was just a fragment of thought I didn’t finish. We might see comments posted by some people with an axe to grind against Phil Scott but take them with a grain of salt, is what I was going to say)
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Wow, so much for that whole ‘after the period of turmoil, I’m here to lead ACP to victory with a stable management team’ spiel he so beautifully delivered about 12 months ago. I agree with Jack – he was one of the few who could successfully work across all facets of the business. But I guess axing people after they fail to ‘save the business’ is the ACP way – an axe Phil himself wielded on many who went before him. Good luck to Matt Stanton – do we take bets yet on how long it will be before Matt goes and Gerry Reynolds takes over?
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