The boss of news publisher Reach has left with immediate effect for a new role at the Jockey Club, the UK’s largest commercial horseracing organisation.
Jim Mullen, who has been chief executive at the owner of the Daily Mirror, Daily Express and Daily Star since 2019, is leaving by “mutual agreement”, the firm’s board said in a statement, and will step down from his role as chief executive straight away.
Mullen will be succeeded by Piers North, the news group’s current chief revenue officer, who before that held roles in digital publishing at both Reach and Yahoo.
The board confirmed that Mullen will receive his full bonus, salary and pension contributions until 1 June, when he starts at the Jockey Club. Before then he will “remain available for a short handover period”, the group said.
Nick Prettejohn, chairman of Reach plc, said that the board and Mullen “agree that this is an appropriate time… for him to step down and for the company to take new leadership”.
Mullen oversaw a tumultuous period of trading for Reach, which is also the UK’s largest publisher of local news, as it battles to adjust to declines in advertising revenues and dwindling support from social media firms like Facebook-owner Meta.
In 2023, it announced plans to axe 450 editorial jobs from its regional and national outlets, which was shortly followed by the resignation of the Daily Mirror’s first ever female editor, Alison Phillips.
Shares in the FTSE-250-constituent Reach are down 18 per cent in the past five years and, year to date, are down 14 per cent. But it outperformed analyst expectations when it published its full-year results last month, beating most profit forecasts and posting jumps in earnings per share and revenue.
Mullen, who before joining the publisher was the boss of Entain-subsidiary Ladbrokes Coral, said: “I would like to thank everyone at Reach for their hard work over these past nearly six years. Together we have put the business in a stronger position, resolving important historical issues and making real progress on our digital growth.”
North takes the helm having joined Reach over a decade ago. He has held several senior digital roles and began his career as a digital journalist.
“It’s a huge honour to lead Reach as we continue to serve essential journalism to our audiences and to move forward with our digital evolution,” he said.
