After gutting some of the Internet’s most-beloved news websites and trade publications, the chief executive of Future Plc is on the way out.
On Friday, the company announced Jon Steinberg is relinquishing the CEO role after less than two years on the job. Executives with Future said Steinberg’s decision was prompted by a desire to relocate to the United States, where his family lives. Future is based in the United Kingdom.
Under Steinberg’s leadership, Future implemented a number of cost cuts that were meant to address post-pandemic headwind in its core revenue drivers — advertising and events.
In August, Future announced it would shut down trade publications Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News, consolidating them into their other brand, Next TV. That consolidation occurred earlier this month, with a number of employees laid off as a result, including Next TV’s managing editor Daniel Frankel, who now freelances for a former employer that he privately disparaged to colleagues while working at Future.
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Other publications have closed over the last few months, including the tech blog AnandTech and Apple-focused iMore. The closures resulted in layoffs, which were part of a “Growth Acceleration Strategy” concocted by Future executives and executed by Steinberg during his short time with the company.
In a statement this week, Future Chairman of the Board Richard Huntingford said he respected Steinberg’s desire to depart for the U.S., but was disappointed nonetheless.
That said, he affirmed the Growth Acceleration Strategy “is well underway and, as highlighted by the pre-close update announced in September, continues to drive good strategic and financial progress.”
“We will continue to work closely with Jon over the course of his notice period as we look to appoint his successor,” Huntingford said.
Steinberg called Future “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.”
“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,” Steinberg said.
Related: Future to shut down Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News
The news of Steinberg’s impending departure caused Future’s stock price to lose nearly 20 percent of its value in a single day. The stock closed down at £794.50 per share (around U.S. $1,037 per share), off from its prior day closing price of £984 per share (around U.S. $1,287 per share).
Steinberg is best known for joining the pop culture website BuzzFeed in 2010, where he served as the company’s president and chief operating officer. He left BuzzFeed four years later to become the CEO of the Daily Mail’s North America business.
In 2016, Steinberg set off to launch his own news business, a streaming channel called Cheddar that aimed to cover financial and political affairs through the lens of Millennials. Three years later, Cheddar was sold to Altice for $200 million; Altice sold Cheddar to a private equity firm last year.
