 From The Times:
"Shares in Future slump as Jon Steinberg announces plan to quit
The media group’s chief executive has announced his plan to leave after only 18 months in the role
The American boss of Future, the listed British publishing house, has announced that he is quitting to return to the United States just 18 months after taking the top job.
Jon Steinberg, 47, received a relocation fee of up to £260,000 to help with the cost of moving from New York to London with his wife and two children when he was appointed in April 2023.
He has now informed the board that he and his family want to move back to the United States next year. It is understood that the family hopes to move to Florida. Steinberg has a 12-month notice period, so could potentially stay until next autumn, although Future has already begun the search for his replacement.
The surprise news of Steinberg’s departure sent shares in the company, whose magazines and websites range from Country Life and Marie Claire to The Week and Metal Hammer, down by almost a fifth.
Jessica Pok, a media industry analyst at Peel Hunt, the investment bank, said his exit would “cast a shadow over the investment case until a successor is found”.
A graduate of Princeton University, Steinberg worked for Google and Buzzfeed before becoming chief executive of the Daily Mail’s north American business. He founded Cheddar, a millennial-focused financial news network, in 2016, selling the business to Patrick Drahi’s Altice USA for $200 million three years later.
Steinberg was brought in by Future to replace Zillah Bing-Thorne, who spent almost a decade at the company and oversaw its audacious £594 million takeover of GoCompare, the price comparison website.
He was seen as pivotal in driving a “growth acceleration strategy” (GAS), under which Future added new ways of monetising content and closed less popular titles, including Total 911 and 3D World. The strategy won praise from industry analysts and the group’s most recent trading update showed that it returned to organic revenue growth in the summer.
Steinberg is widely seen as having done a decent job in his short time at Future, having guided the group through the post-lockdown normalisation in audience numbers and a slowdown in advertising spending amid an increasingly uncertain geopolitical and economic outlook.
Given the wider industry headwinds, however, the share price has not reflected that progress. On his first day, the stock was trading at £11.18. The shares closed at 794½p — down 189½p, or 19.2 per cent — following news of his exit.
Richard Huntingford, Future’s chairman, said: “I would like to thank Jon for the significant contribution he has made to the group. Whilst we are disappointed that he will be departing next year, we respect Jon’s decision to return to the US.”
Steinberg said: “Future is a wonderful business driven forward by incredibly talented people who I love working with, and it was a tough personal decision to step down from the board next year.”
Pok said: “The news comes as a surprise. The company has finally made a turn for the better, moving into organic growth, with audience trends stabilising and an experienced new chief financial officer, Sharjeel Suleman, now on board. While Steinberg is to remain during his notice period to oversee the final stage of GAS, his departure is undoubtedly disappointing.” |
From "ADVFN
Evening Euro Markets Bulletin"
"Media group Future plummeted by 19.26% after announcing that chief executive officer Jon Steinberg would step down next year to relocate to the US.
“Jon Steinberg was only appointed to the top role in April 2023 but he’s already handed in his notice, saying it’s time to move back to the US with his family,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
“Future used to be a highly acquisitive business, snapping up titles to expand its empire of media assets which were then used as a platform to earn commission on product or service sales.
“The cost-of-living crisis and high interest rate environment knocked the company off track and it has been trying to regain momentum ever since.”
Mould noted that more recently, it had been shutting down the weaker parts of its business to save money and improve group margins, while at the same time trying to revive growth.
“Investors will be asking why Steinberg isn’t sticking around to see through this strategy - has he spotted problems down the line or has he simply been offered a better opportunity elsewhere?”
It seems to be all completely speculative! |
Knocking close to 20% off a company's value simply because the CEO has said he wants to step down a year from now seems nuts.
Could it be that the City rumour mills may be thinking that the new CFO has discovered some can of worms on the CEO and that the CEO has panicked and is desperate to get out of the place?
There's no sense in it? I have read several times the latest results, gone over the H1 results and can find nothing amiss.
Call Poirot? |
From one article regarding Steinberg's departure:
"Under Steinberg Future has used surplus cash to buy back its own shares, rather than make acquisitions, a strategy which has not improved the company’s share price." |
Indie I don't think it's a labour issue. The FTSE has underperformed since unmemorable times. |
Why not wait and announce the exit with the actual results in December - then everyone can judge far better what the impact of his leaving is likely to be here. That is less than 2 months away....where is the IR department when you need them.
That for me is the big mistake here leaving the market to ponder too much for 8 weeks and what actually has been going on .... |
Agree, been a lot of change at top here with operating officers. Good titles, but maybe too many different categories. |
Was looking to buy more all day but selling has been relentless. Decided to sell all and keep some profit. This looks like more than just the CEO leaving IMHO |
No reason to go to £6, last trading statement fine, CEO clearly seeing a return to the US a better proposition. This company needs to break itself up! |
Don't think 8 is going to hold...6 quid would make it intersting I guess... |
Let it drop to 600p and then have a ponder . |
Outgoing boss Jon Steinberg said: “Future is a wonderful business driven forward by incredibly talented people who I love working with and it was a tough personal decision to step down from theboard next year.
“It is a great privilege to lead the group and until I hand over to my successor, I remain focused on the delivery of our strategy which leverages Future’s inherent strengths, strong financial characteristics and unique proposition.”
cityam interview :)
The way this continues to fall beyond what anyone would see as a sensible pull back makes me wonder that the market is near devastated that he is leaving - perhaps he is a much needed genius ....nai etc |
The priority for share price growth was the USA sales recovery and that is supposedly the CEO's specialism. Will he keep his motivation high for 12 months if he is looking to a new life back in USA - this particularly makes his role a higher risk issue for the firm I assume. Will be very interesting to read the wording in the reports in December :) |
It’s a good thing yes except he’s clearly decided it’s not worth staying and yet he will haunt the place for 12 months while they find another |
Exactly . They share price has done nothing in the time he has been there. Surely him leaving is a good thing?! |
Clearly he was a failure and didn't fit in well following Zillah's departure. Didn't even make two years. Good riddance, onwards and upwards. |
Question: If CEO was mainly USA based to drive the sales model there with some trips to UK, why could he not make this work out OK. |
Topped up a hefty amount this morning to get average down low. Don’t think the outlook has changed, most CEOs aren’t worth the money they are paid |
If we go below 800 I'll buy again, not that unlikely at the moment.
Although I'll need to make up my mind on what to sell as I'm cash strapped. |
Fall feels overdone |
I'm buying if the price holds above the fib 62 retracement at 820 which was the 2nd breakout of last years rally. |
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