Michael Bloomberg sent out the following announcement to Bloomberg News staffers on Thursday:
This is to inform you that Laurie Hays is leaving Bloomberg News under amicable circumstances. We thank her for her leadership and for all she has done. We will miss her and we wish her well in her future endeavors.
As we await John Micklethwait‘s late February arrival, I’m pleased to announce the appointment of Laura Zelenko as interim senior executive editor for beat reporting effective immediately.
Thanks, Mike
Many Bloomberg News staffers thought that Hays would replace outgoing editor in chief Matthew Winkler. He is being replaced by Micklethwait, the editor of the Economist.
Hays joined Bloomberg in August 2008 after 23 years at The Wall Street Journal. Her first job at Bloomberg was executive editor of corporate news.
At the Journal, Hays supervised several reporting teams that won the Pulitzer Prize, Scripps Howard and Gerald Loeb awards. She is a graduate of Harvard College and worked previously as a reporter for the New Orleans States Item/Times Picayune and the Wilmington News Journal of Delaware.