Following on from Friday’s announcement that Bauer’s Marina Go, general manager of its Hearst Publishing Division, had resigned to take up a role outside of media, Pacific Magazine veteran Jackie Frank (pictured above) has denied rumours she’s set to replace the departing go.
The Australian Financial Review is this morning reporting that Frank would be the ideal candidate for the Bauer vacancy, however, sources close to B&T have revealed that Frank is not interested in the role.
A carrot that may possibly tempt Frank is the fact she’s close to Bauer boss Nick Chan. The two worked together when Chan was boss at Pac Mags.
Last month B&T speculated that Frank could be a possible candidate to take over as Pac Mags CEO when incumbent Peter Zavecz announced his move back to News Corp. It’s believed many at Pac Mags were backing Frank, however, the role was awarded to Gereurd Roberts in late September.
Whether Frank was aggrieved at being overlooked for the role is unclear. Although with 22 years loyal service at Pacific one would think the publisher would be keen to keep hold of her formidable talents. That said, the AFR has suggested that there is some bad blood between Frank and Roberts which may tease Frank over to rival Bauer.
Regardless who does land the Hearst role it comes with somewhat of a poisoned chalice. Bauer does the tiles under licence and include the mastheads Elle, Harper’s Bazaar and Cosmopolitan.
In the August audit figures, Cosmo’s circulation had crashed by 42.1 per cent year on year. And that’s on top of the closure of its sister title Cleo. Elle’s circulation had dropped 7.8 per cent while Harper’s had remained largely steady.
