Capping a year of turmoil that included layoffs, titles
closing and the failure
of its Hallmark Channel show, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia’s president
and CEO Lisa Gersh is out.
MSLO cast the change in the context of the company's plans
to shift more aggressively into merchandising. Gersh,
who was named COO in May 2011 and elevated to the CEO title in June, came
from a television background, having been a co-founder of Oxygen Media and
serving in various roles at NBC after its acquisition of Oxygen.
"Virtually all of the company's cash flow is derived from its merchandising business," said Michael Kupinski, analyst at Noble Financial Capital Markets. "As such, it would stand to reason that the next CEO will come from the merchandising world.
