Tom Beusse, the president of one of Gannett's most important new initiatives, USA Today Sports Media Group, has resigned unexpectedly "to pursue other career opportunities," according to a memo from USA Today Publisher Larry Kramer. (Full text, below.) [Updated at 11:49 a.m. ET with Corporate's press release confirming the news.]
Beusse was hired in January 2011 to lead the new unit. A year later, Corporate forecast Sports Media would generate $300 million in additional annual revenue by 2015, making it a linchpin of CEO Gracia Martore's digital strategy.
His resignation, coming less than two weeks before Gannett's third-quarter earnings report, will surely stoke concerns about whether Sports Media is on track to hit its revenue goals.
In July, when she spoke to Wall Street analysts during the second-quarter earnings conference, Martore didn't offer any hints Sports Media might be losing ground. "Another of our strategic initiatives, USA Today Sports Media Group also continues to gain momentum," she said, ticking off a series of advertising and marketing deals with Major League Baseball, the National Football League and others.
Beusse oversaw a top-to-bottom reorganization of USAT's Sports Department that forced everyone to reapply for jobs, including many veteran editors and writers who were eventually forced out. He engineered the purchase of several sports sites, including The Big Lead. Last spring, his group launched For The Win, billed as the first mainstream sports media property focused exclusively on social news.
But nearly three years after hiring Beusse, Corporate has yet to disclose hard figures on any revenue gains from the Sports Media Group.
Text of Kramer memo
Colleagues,
Dave Morgan has been named president of USA TODAY Sports Media Group. Dave replaces Tom Beusse, who has decided to pursue other career opportunities. Dave has been senior vice president of content and editor-in-chief for USAT SMG since 2011.
Tom’s energy and enthusiasm were key to the initial stage of building USA TODAY Sports Media Group into a top five digital destination for sports fans. As the Sports Media Group transitions from entrepreneurial startup into the next phase of its development, Tom felt it was time for a new challenge. I want to thank him for everything he’s done to guide the Sports Media Group and I wish him nothing but success as he tackles the next challenge in his career.
We look forward to Dave continuing the work Tom started. Dave’s newsroom experience and business background make him the right fit to lead our sports team moving forward.
Those of you who know Dave know he’s an innovative leader. He spent more than 20 years at The Los Angeles Times before being named executive editor of Yahoo North American Audience, where he built Yahoo Sports into what it is today. His work at Yahoo earned him a place on BusinessWeek’s list of the “100 Most Influential People in Sports” in 2008.
Please join me in congratulating Dave on his new position.
Larry
Earlier on Gannett Blog
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| Beusse |
His resignation, coming less than two weeks before Gannett's third-quarter earnings report, will surely stoke concerns about whether Sports Media is on track to hit its revenue goals.
In July, when she spoke to Wall Street analysts during the second-quarter earnings conference, Martore didn't offer any hints Sports Media might be losing ground. "Another of our strategic initiatives, USA Today Sports Media Group also continues to gain momentum," she said, ticking off a series of advertising and marketing deals with Major League Baseball, the National Football League and others.
Beusse oversaw a top-to-bottom reorganization of USAT's Sports Department that forced everyone to reapply for jobs, including many veteran editors and writers who were eventually forced out. He engineered the purchase of several sports sites, including The Big Lead. Last spring, his group launched For The Win, billed as the first mainstream sports media property focused exclusively on social news.
But nearly three years after hiring Beusse, Corporate has yet to disclose hard figures on any revenue gains from the Sports Media Group.
Text of Kramer memo
Colleagues,
Dave Morgan has been named president of USA TODAY Sports Media Group. Dave replaces Tom Beusse, who has decided to pursue other career opportunities. Dave has been senior vice president of content and editor-in-chief for USAT SMG since 2011.
 |
| Morgan |
We look forward to Dave continuing the work Tom started. Dave’s newsroom experience and business background make him the right fit to lead our sports team moving forward.
Those of you who know Dave know he’s an innovative leader. He spent more than 20 years at The Los Angeles Times before being named executive editor of Yahoo North American Audience, where he built Yahoo Sports into what it is today. His work at Yahoo earned him a place on BusinessWeek’s list of the “100 Most Influential People in Sports” in 2008.
Please join me in congratulating Dave on his new position.
Larry
Earlier on Gannett Blog
The long-suffering Sports department employees must be planning an after-work party to celebrate the exit. Good riddance.
ReplyDeleteKramer includes some seriously face-saving language when he writes:
ReplyDelete"As the Sports Media Group transitions from entrepreneurial startup into the next phase of its development, Tom felt it was time for a new challenge."
Here's what I told a USAT staffer a week ago in an e-mail:
ReplyDeleteI'm a skeptic by nature, and that's what's made me a reasonably good journalist over the years.
Having said that, the doubts I've had about Beusse & Co. from the git-go far exceed ordinary skepticism.
One thing's for sure: I will be 100% not surprised if I log into my e-mail one morning and see many copies of the same memo, all announcing Beusse has left the company to pursue other opportunities/spend more time with his family/take up needlepoint.
Gracia Martore loves, loves, loves sports, and I fear that's blinded her to serious holes in the Sports Media business model. Hope I'm proven wrong, but I doubt I will.
Gannett is great at hiring slick salesmen/saleswomen who have left other jobs on not-so-good terms and then expecting those slicksters to produce something special. When GCI suits ever learn. Beusse could never deliver what he promised and it's obvious he was fired. The HighSchoolSports.net/usatodaysports website was and still is a complete disaster. It's absolutely terrible and the local sites still get no direction or help on how to make it work. I'm willing to give Dave Morgan a chance because he built a good model at YahooSports.
ReplyDeleteBeusse is a good man and he'll be missed by many. But, there's no question the SMG model is fatally flawed. It's too bad because there are a lot of very good people there, but also way too much below average talent who have failed to grasp even the basics of how business should be conducted. And the sales channel conflict set us all up for failure.
ReplyDeleteCreds to you for standing up for your guy. But he won't be missed by many of the people who are further down the food chain, like the folks he made to interview for their own jobs. That humiliation stuck with people.
DeleteI was involved in some corporate think groups that led to the creation of Dave's group and purpose. He had Martore and the high-ups completely sold on his idea. They had a lot at stake with this guy. His promises were the ones that seemed least Gannett-like and more new business. He was really going to extend the brand. This departure is a much bigger embarrassment than you could ever know.
ReplyDeleteHah-Hah. Love reading the corporate doublespeak when everybody knows what happened. Have to say, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
ReplyDeleteWithout doing a single thing but selling the geniuses at Gannett on his Ponzi scheme, he came in and ritually humiliated a Sports Staff that turned USA Today into the No. 1 paper in the country.
He made everybody, no matter how many awards they'd won, reapply for their jobs in the 'new' USA Today Sports. When everybody knew it was a sham cooked up by the lawyers to avoid age discrimination lawsuits.
During meetings, he laughed at their concerns and mocked their justifiable fears.
Then he fired, oops laid off, some of the most senior people in SPORTS because either A) They were too old and made too much money or B) They didn't kiss enough ass with the quisling assignment editors eagerly cooperating with his new regime.
All the while, he and his execrable crew of corporate parasites were walking around with their chests puffed out. They were the Pros from Dover, right.
They were going to show the old USA Today Sports staffers how things were really done in digital. Right? Wrong.
Look what's happened since. He built an entire ego site around Joe Posnanski, 'Sports on Earth,' who took his money, wrote his dreadful Joe Paterno book, then fled for NBC as fas he could.
Now we've got Will Leitch instead of Posnanki mailing it in for his paycheck.
Oh, don't forget 'For the Win," the most useless sports blog ever created. Their idea of a lead story is reassuring sports fans that Rory McIlroy and his girlfriend are still together. What a relief.
Odds are we have a lot of bitter sports people posting here, with more to come.
DeleteYou'll see a common thread in all of their posts: No solutions. They will never present an alternate idea. Sports people are great at hiding in their corner and criticizing. They are awful at proposing better ideas.
1:17 throws out another of sports' sacred cows: The awards. Many of these are incestuous prizes that signify nothing. But sports people love them.
Don't get me wrong. The USA Today Sports section is a shell of what it used to be. Some of the recent innovations have been laughers. But the cause of that is far deeper than one guy. It's rooted in a mentality that goes across most sports departments. That's why they never escape their "toy department" classification.
Here's a start - change the goofy name of "Sports on Earth." As opposed to Mars?
DeletePosnanski was a complete disaster. Jim, that's something you really need to write more about.
DeleteDoes Morgan have any hands-on experience in ad sales or other business-side operations? Or has he always been on the editorial side?
ReplyDeleteeditorial as far as I know for dave morgan. did a great job building the YahooSports brand.
DeleteHey, 2:19, here's some 'Solutions' for you.
ReplyDeleteInvest in reporters who can actually break news; not bring in a bunch of outsiders who suck up all the money drawing up pie charts and flying around in the corporate jets with their wives.
Focus on breaking news that will actually drive the news cycle rather than hiring bloggers to react to the news with snark and attitude. Why would you want Chris Chase to be the voice of USA TODAY SPORTS?
Judge assignment editors by results, not by how much they brown-nose. Or how willing they are to stab their former colleagues in the back to curry favor with you.
Don't trade copy for ads, it cheapens the brand and destroys your integrity.
Treat ALL your employees with dignity and respect rather than playing favorites by dividing them into two camps: those who were there before a big hero like you arrived to save the day; and those you hired after you got there.
There's a few ideas for you. Maybe one more. Ignore corporate boot-lickers like you. You're just in it for your bonus before you move on to your next gig. In the meantime, you destroy a good product and a lot of lives. But don't worry about it. Those little people are just being 'bitter,' right?
That's a great example of what I was talking about, 2:38. There are no solutions in your post, only divisiveness and name-calling, which should get it spiked if Jim feels like enforcing his shiny, new policy.
DeleteTruth hurts, doesn't it 2:42? You're losing the argument so you're pleading with the ref to call the match.If this is what they're paying you for, they're being cheated. You've got nothing to say other than tired, corporate-approved talking points.
ReplyDeleteThe divisiveness and name-calling you're so shocked about came from TB and his insecure team. They came in criticizing and mocking everything and everybody who was there before them.
Now he'll have plenty of time to pursue those 'other interests' of his. Hopefully, so will you.
Let us know what your group presented to "win," 2:51. I could have predicted that response before it was made. "They didn't back the existing people! They didn't pay attention to our awards!"
DeleteRegarding your "ref" argument: I don't really care what Jim does. He's proved himself to be an ineffective moderator at best. My point was he was swinging around his authority to delete posts with name-calling, so it'll be interesting to see how he handles this thread.
Let us know when you have those alternatives that sports people never present. I'll be waiting anxiously to hear how the sports section can be rescued.
Can anyone at Gannett write a memo without resorting to buzzwords and double speak? Apple today announced that they were hiring Angela Ahrendts from Burberry to head up Apple's retail operations. His memo was so much better than anything that's come out of the Crusted Palace:
ReplyDeletehttp://9to5mac.com/2013/10/15/tim-cook-talks-hiring-of-angela-ahrendts-as-retail-chief-says-she-is-best-person-in-the-world-for-this-role/
"His memo" should have been "Tim Cook's memo"...
DeleteSorry, but Cook's missive falls well inside the realm of corporate boilerplate.
DeleteMore importantly, though: Who cares? An organization must be doing well if its biggest problem is mundane memoranda.
The key question after today's announcement is this: What's the financial condition of Sports Media, and where is it regarding the $300 million annual revenue target? That's what makes the Beusse saga of interest to employees far beyond Corporate.
ReplyDeleteKrammer's memo is vague on this point, saying only that Sports Media is moving from "entrepreneurial startup into the next phase of its development." But what is that next phase? Further expansion? Status quo? Or a decision to shut it down because further spending would be a waste of money?
The timing of Beusse's departure is very odd if we're to believe Sports Media is within sight of its $300 million goal in 2015. Here's why.
Typically in ventures like this, Beusse and his key hires would have signed contracts giving them bonuses if they reach or exceeded certain financial goals -- i.e., that $300 million.
Assuming, then, that the $300 million is still possible, why would Beusse leave now and forgo any of his bonus payments due next year and in 2015?
The answer might be this: Sports Media is badly off its revenue goals, so Beusse has nothing to lose by bolting now.
I think you're right on target Jim. Revenue targets for SMG have been wildly missed. In fact, the majority of the revenue they have generated could have been retained by the USAT team in place before they arrived. We didn't need this massive infrastructure, brand erosion, sales channel conflict and general ill will SMG has caused. Doesn't mean there aren't some good people there. It just means it was ill-conceived and poorly executed.
DeleteMost importantly....never needed to begin with.
DeleteHey 3:01, better winning awards for quality work than 'For the Win' stories about Rory and Caroline's star-crossed love affair, cheerleader slide shows and in-the-tank puff pieces on leagues and advertisers to get a few more measly pennies.
ReplyDeleteMy solutions were stated above. You ignored them because you can't refute them.
Sports didn't need 'rescuing' before you and your crew came along. But it sure does now. In fact, you've made it a laughingstock.
Why did your own hires like Posnanski and Garafolo jump at the first offers that came along? Because you ran a once-great section into the ground.
But you don't care because you don't take responsibility for anything. Especially your own incompetence. Well-done.
What were your solutions? "Don't push out the existing people"? Wow, that's deep.
DeleteYour apples-to-oranges comparison at the start is entertaining. But it's like the awards themselves -- significant in only a small way.
Regarding Posnanski: I bet it would take little combing of message boards to prove that your crowd thought that was a GREAT hire when it was made. Building a whole site around him (if it happened the way you say it did) was definitely a blunder.
But none of that changes the original point: You and most other sports people will NEVER offer any alternate ideas because you have none. Still waiting to be astonished with something other than: "They didn't back us!"
I'm trying to recall details of a junket the Sports Media Group heavyweights went on a year or two ago in, I think, Las Vegas. I recall there was talk of over-the-top spending on the sort of parties that ordinarily can't be expensed.
ReplyDeleteThere were MANY junkets.
DeleteSuper Bowls, Kentucky Derby, London Olympics, Scores in Manhattan, etc.
DeleteHuge rents. How about across Gannett we cut back on junkets and palaces.
DeleteSMG business and office structure never made sense unless it was going to generate $300 million in "new" incremental revenue. New expensive NYC office with 100+ employees. New LA expensive LA office with operations out there instead of in McLean HQ.
ReplyDeleteSo sad for Tom Beusse, a real talker. Sadder, that the C-suite bought his bluster and poured millions of dollars into his sinkhole.
ReplyDeleteI guess what goes around comes around, right Thomas?
He leaves with pockets full, so I doubt he's too upset.
How does someone say with a straight face that an executive has "resigned to pursue other career opportunities" -- especially when they're delivering that message to a group of journalists?
ReplyDeleteMake no mistake. Beusse was fired.
ReplyDeleteDave Morgan has his head on straight. The question is, will he have the support of the management team to right the SMG ship, especially if it involves paring back some of Buesse's excesses, including the 1440 Broadway office boondoggle and some of the misguided "investments" that are now holding things back.
ReplyDeleteFor those who pine for the good old days of USAT Print's lauded position as a premier daily source of sports news and scores, that ship has already sailed...to continue the nautical metaphor. Earlier press times and fewer printsites mean digital and broadcast are where the future winnings can be mined.
Ideas/solutions: Continue to build the "branding" of content. Become more of a leading syndicator of sports news. Support the news-breakers like Christine Brennan, Bob Nightengale and Jorge Ortiz, just to name a few of the dwindling remaining editorial staff who still are known and respected enough in their focus areas to open doors and get their calls quickly returned. Leverage Gannett's broadcast holdings, both present and the Belo purchased outlets when possible and get branded video content (videos, commentaries, etc.) on the air featuring these folks and a prominent USAT logo in the corner or under the person's name. Put Gannett's creaky PR machine to work and get some house ads going on sites featuring sports content and (gasp) run some freaking commercials on ESPN and Fox Sports to promote USAT content and why & where folks should be reading it.
All that may be true. But in the end, it's content -- exclusive, and superbly well-told -- that will win the day. And that doesn't come cheap.
DeleteEveryone is aggregating, so sites like For The Win are never going to pull in the big numbers. And cheesecake photos of cheerleaders? Nothing original there, either.
But this isn't just a challenge for Sports Media -- it's an issue for all of USAT and the rest of the U.S. news sites as they adopt new online templates and mobile apps.
Because mediocre content published digitally is just mediocre content delivered faster.
Jim, your last sentence should be written on the walls at my workplace.
Delete"Because mediocre content published digitally is just mediocre content delivered faster."
DeleteNever said any better Jim!
11:24, you make me laugh. Christine Brennan as a "newsbreaker"? Hahahaha.
DeleteAdvertising with competitors is also a rib-tickler.
A couple of your other ideas are decent, but you shot your credibility with those silly proposals.
In short, it's more of the same -- sports people have lots of complaints but no new or fresh ideas. They think their "toy department" ways should work forever.
I'm 11:24. First off, I'm a long-time non-managerial employee, but do not work in Editorial or Sports. Nor do I drink the corporate kool-aid.
DeleteMy comments were purely oriented toward the Sports group; not USAT as a whole.
I agree that USAT Sports has very few "door-opening" staff any more. Unfortunately, that's another ship that sailed when Busse & Company cleaned house. Until they hire some name writers, we work with what we have. And I stand by the names I dropped as examples of folks who can break news and get their calls returned. There are a few others, of course, but not many, in the Sports group.
And as far as "advertising with the competition" goes, I have three observations from my tenure with the company:
First off, running commercials promoting USAT Sports content on broadcast television is not advertising with the competition; the two business models are completely different and overlap is minimal. The idea of targeted advertising is to get your brand in front of the desired demographic. You need to be advertising where those customers are, not where you want them to be.
Second, short of real brief "splash" promotion such as what was done in NYC transit locations during the rebranding campaign, USAT simply does not promote its brand much. House ads in our own papers and filler ads on the digital units do not count; it's just singing to the choir.
And thirdly, USAT has some odd inferiority complex about itself that I've never quite been able to put my finger on. This is the one comment that I'm making that applies broader than just Sports. We started as a bold, in-your-face unapologetic brand, but have morphed through the past 10 years or so into the adolescent who wonders if she's pretty enough and if people like her enough. Put bluntly, USAT needs to put its new "balls" to the wall and promote itself as every bit as good as the competition. If we don't believe it ourselves, who else will?
Well, you have explained yourself better. But you still have no content-related ideas. All anyone has proposed so far is bringing aboard "better writers" and promoting them more often. The old toy department ways of waiting for a game, covering it, and repeating the task aren't going to fly in today's environment.
DeleteThat's why I think the biggest problem is the refusal to adapt.
Jim has the concept right. Hire and retain the best writers and reporters you can get and are currently on staff. Trest them as you would want to be treated. Dont shaft them on compensation or by having them report to a bloated management structure. Seek their input and guidance because they are often more plugged in than meetings orientd managers and suckups.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Rudd Davis can resurrect SMG.
ReplyDeleteOnly if Lee Jones comes back with him.
DeleteBeusse was so arrogant he thought he could operate his own fiefdom outside of Kramer's orbit. Yet he failed to produce. Problem is that Morgan was Beusse's wingman who did most of the hatching of the staff. Now we are left with embarrasments like For the Win and Chris Chase manufacutring faux stories.
ReplyDeleteAr some point, the adults need to come back into the room in most of usa today's editorial units. Morale is at an all time low. The work ethic is worse than ever and the content is just plain awful. If the idea is to kill off the print product and gut staff to the bone, i guess this all make sense. But explain the logic in managers who rarely come out of their offices, an uninspired staff and the complete disregard for readers.