“Shock Resignation! Reach CEO Jim Mullen QUITS Without Warning – Here’s Who’s Taking Over!”
The jokey headlines wrote themselves on Monday with the surprising news that Jim Mullen, chief executive of newspaper giant Reach, was stepping down with immediate effect. Mullen was nicknamed the Jim Reaper by staff for the firm’s annual rounds of newsroom-shredding job cuts at titles like the Daily Mirror, Express and Star, but was particularly vexed at being called the Clickbait King by outsiders.
Mullen, who has quit to become CEO of horse racing company The Jockey Club, told the Sunday Times in February that “the narrative is that we’re a clickbait organisation. Which we are not.” But the same article revealed that one regional reporter had filed a staggering 106 articles in a single day, including 10 alone about the money-saving expert Martin Lewis.
Reach insiders believe that not much will change under CEO Piers North – the overarching strategy for the business has been driven by Nick Prettejohn, chairman since 2018, who remains firmly in place.
