Reach regional revenue chief Mike Pennington departs
Reach's Mike Pennington has departed his role as regional revenue director and North East regional commercial managing director after eight years at the company.
Reach regional revenue chief Mike Pennington departs
As the group's lead title The Mirror boasts record digital traffic by moving away from clickbait, raising the performance of the regional titles has proven more difficult. Newly installed group chief executive Jim Mullen is looking to rapidly "digitally transform" the group.
Pennington's remit from handling commercial for the North East was expanded to all regions in 2017. He was tasked with "maximising the local print and digital advertising revenue across the group" but has now departed the group with immediate effect.
As a result, editorial director Alan Edmunds has been appointed as director of regionals "in addition to his current responsibilities".
On his time at Reach, Pennington said: “I’ve loved every minute here at Local World, Trinity Mirror and now Reach. It's been almost eight years to the day since I landed at the Hull Daily Mail from the Yorkshire Post, expanding the region to include Grimsby/Scunthorpe/Lincoln and latterly Newcastle and Teesside, to make it one of the most profitable regions within the business. I’ll miss the business but most importantly I will miss the people - I wish you all well."
A company insider said that Pennington had been “unceremoniously dispatched” and added that it still "doesn't really know what to do with its regionals". He added: "With its interest in acquiring JPI Media, it should get its own house in order first."