Bauer Media to close BauerWorks, with GM Eugene Varricchio to depart
Bauer Media has announced a major reshuffle to its executive line-up and the closure of its custom publishing arm – the first big announcement for the embattled publisher since Paul Dykzeul took over from Nick Chan as CEO.
BauerWorks will be “integrated into various parts of the Bauer Media business”, according to a release, with director of operations and general manager Eugene Varricchio to depart Bauer as part of the changes at the end of September.
Bauer Custom Media was rebranded to BauerWorks back in 2015 to “better reflect the multi-channel content marketing solutions ” it was offering. It sat independently of Bauer’s consumer divisions and primarily focused on clients’ owned media channels. It operated in an agency-style model which offered commercial partners the services of full in-house strategy, creative and client management teams, with the potential to amplify content through Bauer Media branded channels in partnership with the company’s digital network, Bauer Xcel.
The closure of BauerWorks and the executive shuffle comes just under two months after Chan left the company, and in the same week the publisher found out it will have to pay Rebel Wilson $4.5m thanks to her defamation win over a series of articles which painted her as a serial liar.
The company will now have two general managers of publishing, with Jayne Ferguson maintaining the title and Fiorella Di Santo, who was previously sales director, also stepping into the position.
Ferguson will “continue to set the strategic direction for the company across Bauer Media’s lifestyle and celebrity categories” and will be responsible for 11 brands including The Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day and TV Week.
Di Santo will have the same job title, but will be responsible for Bauer Media’s fashion, luxury, food and home categories.
Bauer’s digital division, Bauer Xcel, will continue to be led by Christian Fricke. He is “focused on growing and strengthening Bauer Media’s digital platforms, including Beauty Heaven and the Now To Love Network, but he will now also lead Bauer Labs – the company’s creative platform.
The company’s chief financial office Andrew Stedwell keeps his job in the shake-up, but adds distribution, retail and circulation to his responsibilities.
Dykzeul: Bauer is facing some challenges
Paul Gardiner will also take on increased responsibilities, moving up from commercial director New Zealand to commercial director Australia. He will now lead advertising sales and creative services in the Australian market.
John Hanna is also taking on an expanded remit, adding production, building and photo studios to the list of his responsibilities while maintaining his role as chief information officer.
Adrian Goss will join the executive team in his ongoing role as legal counsel, while Kelly Young remains as director of people and culture, and Terry Williams-King holds onto the group general manager, trade gig.
All executive team members will report into Dykzuel. Two non-executives will also report to Dykzuel: Jo Runciman, the company’s publisher for books, food studio and parenting, and Cornelia Schulze, general manager publisher.
Varricchio will depart at the end of September, but all other changes are effective from the first week of October.
Varricchio issued a short statement about his departure: “I’m proud to have had the opportunity to be part of the executive team and help build and transition Bauer Media over the years. I achieved the goals that we set and now is the perfect time to take on a new challenge.”
Dykzeul said the changes were necessary as the business faced numerous challenges and sought to find more efficiencies.
“We have a fantastic business. Bauer Media’s magazine titles are some of the most iconic media brands in the country, which have been engaging readers for generations. We sell a lot of magazines week after week, reaching more than 85% of Australian women. Our readers pay for our content at a time when they can access a vast amount of media for free,” he said.
He said the refreshed executive team would enable the company to compete in the future and noted it needed to improve its existing magazine model, find new ideas and implement different strategies in order to grow.
“As an organisation, we need to be nimble in order to keep up with the rapid pace of change across the media industry. We are creating an environment where new ideas generated from all corners of the business can be brought to life.”
Dykzeul ended the announcement optimistically, saying: “I believe there’s a fabulous future for the Bauer Media business and the people within it.”
You forgot to add, that they are cutting as much cost and getting it in a position to sell before Germany Bauer exits the Australasian market * with its tail between its legs due to arrogance, tough market conditions, misogynistic boys club exec and mismanagement at the top, over a period of years across the whole business.
* Allegedly
Shame, as there are some very talented people in there but the business model is completely compromised.
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“We have a fantastic business”
You’d think after losing a court case for telling porkies in its magazines, the exec team would provide a more robust assessment….
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How much lipstick can one pig wear?
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I’m confused. This days the company will have only two GM Publishers but then at the end says there’s another one reporting to Dykzeul. Wouldn’t that make three??
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Several weeks ago one of the best Bauer execs Keith Falconer quietly left the business after many years with little fanfare or public acknowledgement. A shame that the strong and sensible leaders with a clear vision and purpose like Keith, Eugene and Matt Stanton are lost from a business that desperately needs their kind right now.
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Leadership is everything, you have to be kidding yourself. Those three you mentioned accelerated this terrible decline. At least falconer understood how content was created… but stanton and Varricchio saw editorial as a burden on the bottom line. But ultimately, it’s the hubris of the head office in Germany that has led to this steaming pile of dung once known as the almighty 54 Park. They kept the number boys in there to rip out costs and then allowed those same blokes to parrot Hamburg’s criticisms of the editorial product, making morale lower than a weekly mag’s circ audit.
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Keith Falconer was CEO of Bauer Trader for 13 years. Mumbrella has made no mention of his very ‘quiet’ departure. In reference to one of the comments here – Keith Falconer was a buffoon who lacked any people skills what so ever, he was responsible for dragging that part of the business in to bad waters – he burnt people, like the majority of management at Bauer both in Australia, and overseas, treated them like pieces on a chess board – good riddance… Bauer will continue to fail – they have ‘no idea’ about the Aussie marketplace – Rebel Wilson was just the beginning of the end (Go Rebel!!!)
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