As UK press baron Lord Rothermere explores a bid for Britain’s Day by day Telegraph, the sport of musical chairs amongst high executives at his flagship media property continues. I’ve realized that the Day by day Mail is bidding farewell to Sean Walsh, its world chief model officer and managing director of US operations. His exit is the newest in a churn of high-profile turnover atop the multicontinent tabloid operation over the previous couple of years, following the ouster of Day by day Mail print editor Geordie Greig; the departure of MailOnline boss Martin Clarke; and the departure and subsequent return of Paul Dacre, who now serves as editor in chief of dad or mum entity DMG Media.
Walsh’s identify isn’t as broadly recognizable as these of the opposite guys, however his exit is the sort that may elevate eyebrows amongst a sure set of tabloid insiders—and movie star tabloid topics, lots of whom the Australian expat maintained shut relationships with. Behind the scenes over the previous decade, he was an operator who performed a key function in placing the Mail on the map in America, a improvement I chronicled for this journal again in 2020. Walsh, who suggested the brass on model technique and communications, can be the explanation you, say, examine Lisa Vanderpump at this 12 months’s White Home Correspondents’ Dinner, or about Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle residing it up on the Mail’s 2018 vacation celebration in New York, together with Martha Stewart and Carole Radziwill. He labored intently with contrarian former columnist Piers Morgan and likewise recruited the equally acid-tongued Meghan McCain. Going ahead, it seems there might be no extra tabloid shenanigans for Walsh: I’m advised he bought a brand new job at a fintech start-up referred to as Bilt Rewards and might be splitting his time between New York and Washington, DC.
In the meantime, Lord Rothermere, whose household has lorded over the Mail since its founding in 1896, seems to be additional consolidating his affect. Along with efficiently pushing to take Day by day Mail and Common Belief personal in 2021, Rothermere assumed the function of CEO (on high of his chairmanship) and bought the then 65-year-old New Scientist journal; he’s now exploring a takeover of considered one of Britain’s different main newspaper manufacturers. Final week, after Sky Information first reported Rothermere’s curiosity within the Telegraph, DMGT confirmed that it had joined the checklist of suitors. If Rothermere’s bid is profitable, it would additional elevate his stature in UK media and probably see the Telegraph develop within the US, the place different British tabloid (and tabloid-adjacent) titles, like The Solar, the Day by day Mirror, and The Unbiased, have been increasing their footprints.
