In Brief

Lisa Gersh’s Departure From Martha Stewart Living “Driven By Company’s Expansion Beyond Her Sweet Spot”

Today in CEO shakeups: Lisa Gersh, who was named the CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in May 2012, is stepping down after a lackluster third quarter, in which the company “lost $50.9 million, compared with a loss of $9.7 million a year earlier.” Ouch. Those kinds of numbers would be enough to encourage a change in management, but there is another factor that may have contributed to Gersh’s departure from the company.

Simply put, Gersh wasn’t keeping pace with the direction of the brand. In terms of a replacement, “[Martha Stewart Media is] looking for someone who has background consistent with the desire to leverage the media successes into merchandising dollars internationally,” a company insider told us. “[Lisa Gersh's departure] is driven by company’s expansion beyond her sweet spot in media.” Well known media brands reach a point when it makes financial sense to monetize, and a company with the built-in cachet of Martha Stewart’s name, a woman who is known for her great taste, logically wants to capitalize on it. Gersh’s replacement will hopefully be someone who is more equipped to aggressively expand and monetize the brand — we’ll be very interested to see who it is.

[Photo via Business Insider]

TAGS: lisa gersh | martha stewart | martha stewart living

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