With the upcoming retirement of chairman Peter Kann, Dow Jones & Co. has decided to split the roles of chairman and CEO between two people, writes the New York Post’s Janet Whitman.
Whitman wrote, “The about-face comes as rival newspaper giant The New York Times is battling an investor campaign to shake up its corporate structure and wrest control from the Sulzberger family.
“Dow Jones, which is controlled by the Bancroft family through a special class of shares, has long raised the ire of investors concerned about good corporate behavior.
“The company announced yesterday that it would nominate independent director Peter McPherson, 66, to succeed longtime Chairman Peter Kann.
“Kann relinquished the CEO title in January 2006 to Rich Zannino. It was unclear at the time whether Zannino, 48, would inherit the chairman title when Kann, 64, retired at the company’s annual meeting this April.”
