Time Inc. has named former Fox television executive Rich Battista as its new president and CEO, the company announced Tuesday.
Battista replaces Joe Ripp, who has been the company’s top executive since its spinoff from Time Warner two years ago. Ripp will continue to serve as executive chairman of the board of directors.
Battista is a 25-year veteran of the entertainment and media industry with experience in launching, building and managing large-scale businesses across various media platforms. Prior to joining Time Inc. as executive vice president in 2015, Battista served as CEO of Mandalay Sports Media and held numerous senior management roles at Fox Television.
Battista helped over see this week’s launch of this week of People/Entertainment Weekly Network, an ad-supported video-streaming service.
The company’s stock price has steadily declined in the last year since peaking at $23.51 in July 2014. Shares opened at $14.26 on Tuesday.
“I am thrilled and honored to lead this great organization and its exceptionally talented employees, particularly as we aggressively move to unlock the enormous potential of our brands across the media landscape,” Battista said in a statement. “During this dynamic time in media, we are transforming Time Inc. to a cross-media company and are uniquely positioned to leverage our brands, scale, data and insights to significantly grow new lines of business in service to advertisers, marketers and consumers.”
“I am deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to lead this tremendous company for the past three years, and I am excited about its future,” said Ripp in a statement. “We have made real progress in the transformation into a multimedia, multi-platform enterprise. As we look to the next phase of our strategy, Rich is the right choice to execute our plans and deliver shareholder value.”