Joe Ripp has
been named CEO of Time Inc., replacing outgoing CEO Laura Lang, who is due to leave the company after it spins off from Time Warner later this year. His appointment takes effect after Labor Day.
Ripp previously spent almost two decades with Time Inc., rising to become CFO of AOL after its merger with Time Inc. parent company Time Warner. After leaving the company he held executive
positions at a number of companies, including president and chief operating officer at pharmaceutical software maker Dendrite International, then chairman of Journal Register until 2011. Most recently
Ripp was a partner in Cannondale Investments, which has acquired data and information services companies with private equity backing.
Current Time Inc. CFO Howard Averill, who was previously
considered a candidate for Time Inc. CEO, is instead moving up to become CFO of Time Warner.
Meanwhile, outgoing CEO Laura Lang is preparing to end her tenure in the top spot on a busy note,
with a series of deals and partnerships focused on the digital space.
In May Time Inc. revealed a wide-ranging mobile content and advertising deal with Sprint. Under the terms of the deal,
Time Inc. content -- including entertainment, lifestyle, sports and business news -- will be available to Sprint subscribers in a customizable section of SprintZone through a free Time Inc. app. The
deal also gives Time Inc. advertisers access to mobile ad networks like Jumptap and third-party publishers like AccuWeather. Sprint advertisers will be able to place ads on Time Inc.'s mobile sites,
including Time, People and Sports Illustrated
Last week Time Inc. became the first multi-title publisher to sign up for GfK MRI Starch Digital’s syndicated service
measuring the impact of digital magazine advertising, the research outfit revealed this week.