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Richard Beckman Cracks Eggs, Taps Michael Wolff as Editorial Director of Adweek Trades

Zeke Turner — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:55:06 -0400

"If you want to make an omelet you have to break some eggs," e5 Global Media CEO Richard Beckman told The New York Times Tim Arango. Mr. Beckman was explaining his decision to tap Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael Wolff to run his company's Adweek Media Group.

Mr. Wolff, who is known for getting into small battles, will no doubt bring a scrappier sensibility to the group of trade publications that includes Adweek, Brandweek and Mediaweek. Mr. Wolff will suspend his Vanity Fair column, but continue writing longer stories for the magazine.

The news isn't a complete surprise after Jeff Bercovici reported in August that Mr. Wolff had been spotted several times taking the elevator up to e5's offices.

In his post about Mr. Wolff's new job, Mr. Arango wrote that Mr. Wolff's "most visible feud these days is with Rupert Murdoch." He also wrote that Mr. Wolff spoke with Keith Kelly at Mr. Murdoch's New York Post about his new job last week, but no story ever ran.

Earlier this year, Mr. Beckman installed Janice Min at The Hollywood Reporter. Mr. Beckman and Ms. Min announced in September that the trade will be relaunching as a weekly with emphasis on its web presence. That is to say that anything is possible with the Adweek Group.

Under Janice Min, The Hollywood Reporter is Becoming a Weekly Glossy

Zeke Turner — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:09:04 -0400

Richard Beckman and Janice Min are scrapping their daily print edition and relaunching The Hollywood Reporter as a weekly, large-format glossy.

The magazine will also have a new website to keep up with entertainment blogs, and a daily PDF full of news will go out to subscribers, who might still be interested in THR as a daily trade publication, according to The New York Times. The move makes sense from both a business and editorial standpoint: Industry advertising has suffered in recent years (see: Variety) and, in the age of Nikki Finke, nobody who is serious about entertainment industry news can afford to publish only once a day.

Sharon Waxman, who is editing The Wrap and has been leading a little campaign against her competition, said she still doesn't understand what Mr. Beckman and Ms. Min are trying to do. “I don’t see any business model that supports what they are doing,” Ms. Waxman told The Times.

What does Mr. Beckman think? “It makes me laugh to get pigeonholed by these morons.”

Mr. Beckman left Condé Nast, where he developed a reputation for spending aggressively to develop the editorial product he had in mind, in January to take over as CEO of e5 Global Media, which owns THR. He plans to quadruple the number of subscribers in the next three years.

Michael Wolff Has Taken the Elevator to See Richard Beckman Three Times This Month

Zeke Turner — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:09:17 -0400

Richard Beckman hasn't been shy about trying to hire big names for E5 Global Media. He tapped Janice Min to run The Hollywood Reporter (that's gone well, in sort of an awesome low-brow way). He was trying to get Richard Johnson from the New York Post earlier this summer, but Mr. Johnson couldn't get out of his contract.

Now it seems that Vanity Fair's Michael Wolff may be up for a job as editorial director of E5's Adweek, Mediaweek and Billboard. At least Jeff Bercovici thinks so after catching wind that Mr. Wolff has been inMr. Beckman's office building (which happens to be Mr. Bercovici's office building) on Ninth Street and Broadway three times in the last month. Yesterday, Mr. Wolff was seen getting off on the seventh floor, where the E5 offices are.

Mr. Bercovici called Mr. Wolff to ask if he was up for the job. "Let's not have this conversation," Mr. Wolff said. He hung up shortly after. So, who knows, but sure.