Jim Impoco, who had shepherded Newsweek through most of the turmoil that rocked parent company IBT Media last summer, was himself given the old heave-ho as editor-in-chief of the weekly on Tuesday after 3 ¹/₂ years at the title.
Matt McAllester, who had been editing the international edition out of London, will run both editions.
Last year, as IBT’s losses mounted, it fired about 30 staffers from its roster of digital publications. Seven were cut at Newsweek. Impoco, a veteran of Fortune, the New York Times and Portfolio, who had successfully resurrected a print version after IBT purchased it from Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp in 2013, pushed to have Newsweek considered its own cost center within the company to try to shield it from further cuts as it eked out a tiny profit.
The switch at the top, first reported by Politico, was engineered by the new IBT CEO Dev Pragad. He had arrived from Britain as CEO last fall and had previously worked with McAllester, who shared a Pulitzer Prize earlier in his career at Newsday.
Pragad did not return a call seeking comment — but in his Tuesday memo said, “Matt and I share the same vision for Newsweek, one that expands our reach and influence and grows our audience across the globe, and will enable us to build upon an already excellent editorial team in both the US and the UK.”
Of course insiders worry that with Impoco gone, more cuts are on the way.
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