CEO and MD of Seven West Media, Tim Worner, has confirmed that Peter Zavecz, the CEO of Pacific Magazines will exit the business next month.
After weeks of speculation, News Corp has announced Zavecz will take on the new role of MD of commercial for the Herald and Weekly Times.
News Corp MD of metro and regional publishing Damian Eales says: "I’m delighted that Zavecz is returning to HWT to lead our commercial operations. Zavecz is one of Australia’s most experienced publishing executives with over 40 years in media sales and publishing. He is well known by the business community of Victoria, he knows our business well, and he is ideally placed to lead our commercial operations at HWT.”
On Zavecz's exit from PacMags, Worner says: “Peter has done a remarkable job over the past 11 years, as commercial director, as a publisher and as CEO of Pacific Magazines.
“He has led a terrific team working on some of the best brands in the publishing business and successfully led the Pacific Magazines transformation into new forms of digital delivery. It has successfully launched new digital products and the business has been transformed over the past two years.
“We understand and acknowledge his decision to relocate to his home town in Melbourne with his family.”
PacMags said it will announce a new MD for the publishing arm in the near future.
Speculation has been building for months that Zavecz was set for a role at News Corp. Earlier this year, The Australian wrote former NewsLifeMedia CEO Nicole Sheffield would also move to News Corp with Zavecz.
On Monday, it was confirmed Sheffield will head News Corp’s new business arm, News Digital Networks Australia (News DNA). This leaves two of the biggest magazine publishers without CEOs.
There has been a number of shifts in senior management at both NewsLifeMedia and News Corp. Earlier this month, both NewsLifeMedia COO Robin Parkes and News Corp COO Sharb Farjami exited the business.
NLM's and News Corp's sales operations were brought together in May of this year, and with the recent string of shifts it points towards all parts of the business merging as part of a restructure. It is not clear the timelines of the merger or how many staff will be impacted.
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