The honeymoon appears to be over for Time Inc. CEO Laura Lang.
As employees await a new round of cuts that seems all but certain to shake the nation’s largest publisher in mid-January, morale is plunging. The frustration at Time Inc. seems to have risen even more because of the high expectations that accompanied industry outsider Lang’s hiring in November 2011 from digital ad agency Digitas, where she was CEO. There’s grumbling in the ranks about what Time Inc. veterans feel is a lack of communication from on high about where the company is headed. Lang’s ascension to the top spot — she did not officially move in until January 2012 — came, insiders said, after a year in which many initiatives stalled. During that period, Time Inc. was run by a triumvirate of top executives: Editor-In-Chief John Huey, Chief Legal Officer Maurice Edelson and Chief Financial Officer Howard Averill. They took over after Jack Griffin was driven from the corner office in February 2011 by an internal revolt. Meredith Corp. vet Griffin lasted just five months on the job at Time Inc.
