Time Inc. abruptly removed Eric Pooley as the managing editor of Fortune magazine yesterday, and named Andrew Serwer, a senior editor at large, to succeed him, becoming the magazine’s third top editor in less than six years.
John Huey, editor in chief of Time Inc., a unit of Time Warner, gave no reason for the change, which was effective immediately, and did not return calls seeking comment.
Mr. Serwer said in an interview that Mr. Huey had told him over the weekend that he wanted him to take the helm.
“I found out about it a couple of days ago,” he said. “It was a surprise to me that John wanted me to do this job.” He added that Mr. Huey “has a way of making surprising moves sometimes.”
Mr. Huey said in a statement that Mr. Pooley would work with him and with Jim Kelly, the former managing editor of Time magazine, on investigative projects.
Mr. Huey announced the change at a hastily called staff meeting yesterday. People who were there said they were stunned. They said they perceived Mr. Pooley, who took over as managing editor in April 2005, as a strong advocate for long-form journalism and a rigorous if sometimes over-involved editor. The McKinsey consulting firm has been examining efficiencies at the magazine.
Time Inc. has been promoting the conversion of much of the content of its print magazines to other forms, and Mr. Serwer, 47, has been in the forefront of that effort. He writes for Fortune, writes a blog and appears regularly on CNN, becoming what many of his colleagues said they considered to be the public face of the magazine.
Colleagues said that Mr. Huey gave the impression of wanting to move Fortune to a new level of public awareness and create “buzz” and saw the opportunity to do so with Mr. Serwer.
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