• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, January 12, 2010

Richard Beckman -- the former head of Conde Nast's Media Group and more recently the president of the company's Fairchild Fashion Group -- is leaving the company to become the CEO of e5 Global Media, the new owner of Adweek, Mediaweek, Brandweek, The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard.

Beckman's resignation is effective immediately, and Conde Nast will announce a replacement for him in the near future.

E5 Global Media acquired the trade titles from Nielsen Business Media at the end of December as part of the latter's general divesting of B2B publications, which also included the shuttering of Editor & Publisher. E5 was formed by Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners, which funded the deal.

Beckman stated: "My career and my passions have centered on the music, entertainment and media industries, making this collection of brands particularly alluring to me. I look forward to developing these already valuable brands and improving and extending them in the years to come."

After five years at the head of Conde Nast's Media Group, which he previously helped build as publisher of Vogue and GQ, in March 2009 Beckman was moved to the position of president of the Fairchild trade group, which includes B2B fashion publications like Women's Wear Daily.

Although WWD is highly regarded in the world of trades, the move was widely seen as a step down from Beckman's high-powered post as the head of sales for Conde's leading consumer titles. It came around the same time two of his signature events, Fashion Rocks and Movies Rock, were closed down as part of stringent cost-control measures, and shortly before the publisher initiated waves of layoffs throughout the company, including Beckman's group.

Former and current Fairchild executives have been at the center of B2B activity in recent weeks. Also at the end of December, it was revealed that Fairchild plans to unveil a new men's fashion trade title in June; the new and as-yet-unnamed trade magazine will focus on the men's fashion market, with former Men's Vogue publisher Marc Berger and Women's Wear Daily editor Ed Nardoza taking the top business and editorial spots. (Nardoza will continue in his current role at WWD.)

The new title is apparently intended to fill gaps in the Conde publishing empire left by the closing in 2008 of DNR, a men's fashion trade title, followed in 2009 by Men's Vogue, a consumer title.

Separately, Ralph Erardy, the former senior vice president and group publisher of Women's Wear Daily, is founding his own media company with plans to launch a new trade magazine in the next few weeks. Called Insider Communications Group, the new company is preparing to launch Specialty Insider, covering specialty apparel retail, with a controlled circ of 15,000.