INM CEO Robert Pitt has suddenly resigned to 'pursue other interests'
The publisher issued a statement announcing the departure.
IRELAND’S BIGGEST PUBLISHER, Independent News and Media, has announced the sudden resignation of its CEO, Robert Pitt.
INM – which publishes the Irish Independent and the Sunday Independent among other titles – issued a statement today notifying of Pitt’s departure.
In a one-line notification, the company said that Pitt had “decided to leave the business … to purse other interests”. The decision will come into effect tomorrow.
It was reported last year that Pitt had a disagreement with chairman Leslie Buckley over the price the group media would pay for Newstalk, a takeover bid that was later abandoned.
Buckley is a business associate of billionaire Denis O’Brien, INM’s largest shareholder and the owner of Newstalk parent Communicorp.
INM issued a statement at the time to confirm that “an issue arose” between the board members Buckley and Pitt “in relation to the terms of a possible acquisition”.
In March, INM confirmed that it was complying with an order from the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) “to produce books and records” in relation to the reported bid.
Reporting by Cormac Fitzgerald and Conor McMahon.
