Updated:
After two top editors left Newsweek-Daily Beast on Monday, the company announced a new hire and a pair of promotions in what it termed “editorial restructuring.”
Mark Miller, a Newsweek veteran who resigned as Newsweek's editorial director in August of 2010, will return as Director of Editorial Operations.
NewsBeast says he is not a replacement for Felsenthal but that he will run the operational side of the newsroom.
Justine A. Rosenthal, who left her post as editor of The National Interest to be Newsweek’s senior editor, will take the role of executive editor of the magazine. Jane Spencer was promoted to that same position for The Daily Beast.
Earlier:
The publisher, the managing editor and the executive editor of Newsweek-Daily Beast are all leaving the company in another sign that it is still finding its footing since the merger of the two companies last November.
A Newsweek-Daily Beast spokesperson confirmed the first two departures to TheWrap Monday while the third was reported by the New York Times.
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Ray Chelstowski came aboard as the publisher of Newsweek and the Daily Beast in January, but he is now out and Eric Danetz, formerly of CBS Interactive, will inherit his responsibilities as senior VP of sales.
Tom Weber, the managing editor, just took over in May but will leave in two weeks as the company restructures its editorial department.
Edward Felsenthal, executive editor of the Daily Beast since it debuted online in 2008, also tendered his resignation, according to the Times. A spokesperson has not yet responded for a request for confirmation on his departure.
The moves appear unrelated, though the two editorial resignations followed quickly on the heels of the announcement that Chelstowski was being shown the door.
Newsweek and the Daily Beast merged last November, and many will interpret Chelstowski’s ouster as a sign that the company is unhappy with ad sales thus far. Ad revenue both online and in print are down, according to a report in Adweek.
Also Read: Finances Still a Mess at Newsweek-Daily Beast
But Newsweek-Daily Beast rejects the notion that its financial performance is troubling.
“We are in a period of tremendous momentum with all our metrics in the right direction,” said Rob Gregory, president of The Newsweek Daily Beast Company. “These changes position the Newsweek Daily Beast Company for continued rapid growth as a global, multi-platform news organization.”
The company points out that ad pages are up 10 percent year over year compared to last October and newsstand sales are up 20 percent.
It also pointed to a series of new editorial hires under editor-in-chief Tina Brown, and the promotion of Nathan Geddie to assistant managing editor.
That said, that same Adweek report indicated the company is still in the red, posting a combined $30 million loss in the last fiscal year. Newsweek-Daily Beast has also said that Weber's duties will be "absorbed elsewhere."
No word yet on who might replace Felsenthal, though the Times' Jeremy Peters tweeted that Mark Miller, who resigned as Newsweek's editorial director in August of 2010, will be taking the post.