Martha Stewart Living CEO Resigns

by Christopher Freeburn | December 19, 2012 11:51 am

Martha Stewart[1]News that Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE:MSO[2]) is looking for a new CEO sent its shares tumbling.

The company announced that Lisa Gersh will depart as chief executive after a unspecified transition period. Gersh, who previously worked at Comcast‘s (NASDAQ:CMCSA[3]) NBCUniversal, became MSO’s CEO in June 2011, Reuters noted.

Investors did not like the change. Shares of MSO dropped more than 4% in Wednesday morning trading.

MSO is hoping to build up is merchandising business in the face of declining print and digital media results.  Merchandising accounted for just 22% of revenue for MSO in 2011. The company is currently restructuring its operations in order to trim expenses, and has only turned a profit in two of the last eight quarters.

Last month, MSO announced that it would lay off about 12% of its 600 employees and shutter two magazines in a bid to reduce costs by $30 million annually[4].

Endnotes:
  1. [Image]: http://investorplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/martha-stewart-300.jpg
  2. MSO: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=MSO
  3. CMCSA: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=CMCSA
  4. in a bid to reduce costs by $30 million annually: http://investorplace.com/2012/11/martha-stewart-to-cut-magazines-and-jobs/

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