Brett Clegg departs Fairfax
Clegg: Out
Brett Clegg, boss of Fairfax Media’s business group, has left the company after just two years.
Clegg originally joined the company last year as chief executive of the Financial Review Group, which covers titles including the Australian Financial Review and BRW. Earlier this year, Fairfax restructured with a business media operation also covering the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Clegg has been replaced by Sean Aylmer who is currently editor-in-chief of the Sydney Morning Herald and is a former editor of BRW.
Mumbrella understands that Aylmer late this afternoon addressed AFR staff at Fairfax Media’s headquarters in Pyrmont.
Before getting his Fairfax role, Clegg was deputy CEO of News Limited’s The Australian.
He was interviewed by Mumbrella’s Tim Burrowes shortly after his move to Fairfax:
Aylmer: Replaces Clegg
6.30pm update – The announcement from Fairfax:
SYDNEY, 22 July 2013: Fairfax Media’s Managing Director of Australian Publishing Media, Allen Williams, today announced the appointment of Sean Aylmer as Group Director, Business Media.
In announcing the appointment, Mr Williams said: “We are very pleased with Sean’s appointment to the role.
“Over his 16-year career with Fairfax, Sean has worked in leadership roles across all the key mastheads. Sean joined Fairfax’s The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) in 1997, having previously worked as an economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia.
He has spent the 16 years since then with Fairfax apart from a 12 month period in funds management.
“He takes on his new role having had deep experience with business media. Sean’s first role was with the business section of the SMH writing on banking and economics. This was followed by a period at The Australian Financial Review (AFR) where he was the economics correspondent in Canberra, then foreign correspondent in New York, banking and finance editor, news editor and managing editor. Sean then spent two years as editor in chief of Fairfax’s BRW magazine, taking it back into profitability.
“Most recently Sean has been editor in chief of the SMH, overseeing the transformation of the newsroom including the shift to digital-first way of working. His period as editor in chief has seen the move to compact, the introduction of the metered model and the introduction of real-time working.
“Garry Linnell, Director, News Media, will also perform the role of acting editor in chief of the SMH until a permanent appointment is made to that role.”
Brett Clegg, previously Group Director, Business Media, has decided to move on from Fairfax.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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I suspect we will see some very bad results in the profit statement next month. Fin has been looking very sick indeed and you just don’t see it in the business community any more.
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A respected individual – well done Sean. Who will get Editor position of Sydney Morning Herald?
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Who is Allen Williams?
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Is that seriously their statement? Talk about burying the lead…trying to spin Aylmers appointment ahead of Cleggs departure… Weak effort Fairfax corporate affairs.
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Scalp by Bain. Did William Allen know who Brett Clegg actually was?
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BC back to news? I’d say so.
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What’s the bet Clegg will show up at News Ltd yet again. Typical Gen Y cusper = zero loyalty. Clegg only cares about money, not that he did a great job of getting the FIN to be more successful commercially.
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Well Clegg has come and gone three times now – hopefully Fairfax has seen the back of him forever. He was a good news breaker as a reporter because he had industry contacts – but he had a very limited understanding of how newspapers work. I suspect Greg Hywood has learned this the hard way.
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Maybe they should just shut Fairfax down today. What a splendid job the current crop of managers are doing. They jump between mastheads every few months like it’s some plaything. My suggestion: make Glenn Burge editor of SMH (he’s always wanted it and it needs a hard head to see it through the tough times). Fairfax needs to remember there are still mum and dad shareholders in this business, not just Gina. Speaking of which, show me the manual where it says talking down your own business (i.e Hywood suggesting there will be no newspapers in five years) is a good idea.
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This is what happens when you put an old rural press guy from New Zealand in charge. All reports say the place is paralyzed and he has zero respect. Thought we were heading into a digital new age for Fairfax. Bad moves.
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Heaven help News Corps regionals if Clegg gets the job. He’s not a true newspaper man – he’s a one time accountant. Talk about lack of commitment. He flips and flops between jobs and he’s not even 40. And they just keep inflating his ego by making out he’s some sort of wunderkind. Fail, fail, fail from where I sit.
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