Dean Baquet was forced out as editor of the Los Angeles Times after he refused renewed demands from Tribune Co. to lay off more journalists, aggravating tension between the media company and its biggest newspaper.
Mr. Baquet is exiting a month after Tribune ousted the newspaper's publisher, Jeffrey M. Johnson, and replaced him with David D. Hiller, then the publisher of the company's flagship Chicago Tribune. Weeks earlier, both Mr. Baquet and Mr. Johnson had publicly resisted pressure from Tribune management to make a new round of job cuts.
According to a person familiar with the situation, Mr. Hiller told Mr. Baquet last week that between 50 and 75 jobs would have to be eliminated from the newsroom. Mr. Baquet balked. The next day, Mr. Hiller and Mr. Baquet agreed to part ways.
In an interview, Mr. Hiller said that while he discussed staffing levels with Mr. Baquet he had no "specific number in mind," and that the differences were much deeper. "Its about the direction and the pace of change that we need in the newspaper and in our Web site in order to be successful in these so rapidly changing times. Part of that, but only part of that, relates to the economics of the business and staffing levels."
In the middle of a busy Election Day, Mr. Baquet, 50 years old, confirmed his departure in a note to his staff. "By now you've seen the Wall Street Journal story [online] ... that I'll be leaving the paper," he said in an email. "Believe me, I didn't want it to come out this way." The paper had been planning to announce his departure on Thursday, people familiar with the situation said. Mr. Baquet's email ended: "Let's do a hell of a job on the election tonight."
Mr. Baquet, one of the most prominent African-American journalists in the country, had been in the job less than 18 months. He was elevated from managing editor in July of last year to succeed John Carroll, who retired amid rising emphasis on cost controls from Tribune management. James O'Shea, one of the managing editors of the Chicago Tribune, will succeed Mr. Baquet on Monday. Mr. O'Shea has worked at the Tribune since 1979.
Mr. Baquet is leaving as Tribune's board -- under pressure from shareholders unhappy with the company's stagnant stock price -- is exploring the sale of the company or individual assets. Aside from the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, the company's newspapers include Newsday on New York's Long Island, the Baltimore Sun and the Hartford Courant, as well as a chain of TV stations, the Chicago Cubs baseball team, a stake in the employment-classified Web site CareerBuilder and a minority interest in the Food Network cable channel.
Tribune, like much of the rest of the newspaper industry, is struggling to cope with declining circulations and ad revenues across its newspaper properties as readers and advertisers defect to the Web and other media. The Los Angeles Times appears to have been particularly hard hit: Last week, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported that the paper's total paid circulation on weekdays had fallen 8% to 775,766 in the six months that ended Sept. 30 compared with the year-earlier period. That was the biggest percentage drop among the nation's largest 25 newspapers, the ABC said. A few days earlier, Tribune disclosed that ad revenue from the Los Angeles Times fell 2% in the third quarter.
Several wealthy individuals have signaled interest in buying the paper, including entertainment mogul David Geffen, real-estate tycoon Eli Broad and supermarket magnate Ron Burkle. The Times, which generates an estimated $240 million in annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, could be valued at $2 billion or more. Tribune has a market capitalization of about $8 billion.
Mr. Hiller originally asked Mr. Baquet -- who won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting at the Chicago Tribune in 1988 -- to remain at the paper, but the new publisher made clear further cuts could be necessary. The paper cut about 350 jobs last year. Tribune pushed for additional cuts from the remaining workforce of 3,600. Mr. Hiller, a veteran Tribune executive, spent last week in budget meetings, and the Los Angeles Times had a deadline of yesterday to send its budget to Tribune, according to people familiar with the matter.
Earlier this week, Mr. Hiller put out a memo to the staff, saying that the paper needed to "focus relentlessly on growing local audience."
There had been some concern that other top editors would follow Mr. Baquet out the door, but Douglas Franz and Leo Wolinsky, who Mr. Baquet hired as his managing editors, sent the staff emails saying they were staying. Mr. Franz implored colleagues "to put the good of the newspaper ahead of our personal anger" and stay, too.
After the news of his impending departure broke yesterday, Mr. Baquet was contacted by two newspapers about jobs, according to a person who spoke with him.
Write to Sarah Ellison at sarah.ellison@wsj.com
