Gracia Martore retires after more than 30 years with the company. She’s succeeded as Tegna president-CEO by Dave Lougee. Cars.com begins trading on the NYSE under the symbol CARS.
The separation is expected to be completed by May 31. Tegna stockholders to receive one share of Cars.com stock for every three Tegna shares. Cars.com to pay Tegna $650 million in cash.
As the company spins off Cars.com to shareholders and evaluates “strategic alternatives” for CareerBuilder, it says broadcasting chief Dave Lougee will take over for retiring CEO Gracia Martore and Alex Vetter will become CEO of the independent Cars.com.
Trump Factor Net Positive For Tegna Political
In today’s earnings call, Tegna Media President Dave Lougee and Tegna CEO Gracia Matore were unconcerned about a shortfall in political in the second quarter, saying 3Q and 4Q would be significantly greater than in comparable years with Trump spending ramping up. In addition, core should rebound in the 3Q because of the Olympics airing on Tegna’s NBC affiliates next month. “Olympics are really strong,” Lougee said, noting that sales are up in “high single digits” percentage over the $48 million the group booked from the games in the 2012.
Tegna TV Looking Forward To Lucrative 2016
“Between now and March 22, we have presidential primaries in 31 of our 38 markets. We know we will end up at record levels for the primary season,” said Tegna Media President Dave Lougee. “Between political, net retrans, the Olympics and digital sales growth, Tegna Media will have a record year.”
Martore Boosts Tegna With Focus, Vision
Since Gracia Martore took the helm as CEO in December 2011 she has doubled the size of the TV station group, bolstered digital operations into an industry leader and jettisoned the newspapers that were dragging down profits. “She’s second to none in terms of staying on top of businesses and where they are heading,” says Dave Lougee, head of Tegna’s broadcasting division.
Exclusives
Gracia Martore: Tegna’s Focused Leader
The CEO of the publicly traded media company rose to the top focusing on the job at hand. Right now, that means growing one of broadcasting’s best collections of TV stations and well-branded digital assets like Cars.com and CareerBuilder. This profile is the second in a series featuring individuals who will be honored by the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation as Giants of Broadcasting & Electronic Arts on Oct. 15 in New York. This year’s other honorees: Don Mischer, Herb Granath, Gene Jankowski, Mel Karmazin, Jarl Mohn, Bill Persky, the Carter family and Don West. Full Story | Add comment
President and CEO Gracia Matore (left) earned $12.4 million in total compensation in 2014, while broadcasting chief Dave Lougee earned $2.49 million, the company’s annual proxy filing shows.Gannett paid its five top executives collectively more than $24 million in the year.
Gannett CEO Gracia Martore isn’t saying whether her company was a bidder for the McGraw-Hill TV stations bought by Scripps, but she does say that the pricing supports the value of the 23 TV stations in the Gannett portfolio. And Gannett has been buying back its own stock because of the market prices.
Health problems force him to step down. He’s being replaced by Marjorie Magner, who’s named chairman, and Gracia Martore, who becomes CEO.
COO Gracia Martore will be in charge during Craig Dubow’s absence as she was in 2009.
Gannett Total TV Rev Down 2% In 1Q
But after factoring out political spending and ad losses due to absences of Olympics and Super Bowl this year, Gannett said, revenue was up 7.5% over the first quarter of 2010. Based on current trends, Gannett expects total TV revenues for the second quarter to be flat and core to be up in mid-single digits.
