Time Inc. Names Battista President & CEO; Ripp Shifts To Exec Chair

Time Inc. this morning named Rich Battista President & CEO, succeeding Joe Ripp. Battista previously had been President of Time Inc.’s Entertainment & Sports Group and Video, a portfolio that included SI, and he was a key principal in the recent digital content and sales partnership struck between SI and Fox Sports. Ripp will shift to a new role as Exec Chair leading Time Inc.’s BOD. The move continues a rapid ascendancy within Time Inc. for Battista, who joined the company in March '15 as President of People and Entertainment Weekly magazines after previously serving as CEO of Mandalay Sports Media.

Time Inc., spun off in '14 from Time Warner, has sought to reposition itself from a print-focused entity into a broader multimedia enterprise, a sometimes rocky process that has generated multiple rounds of layoffs and executive restructuring. “As we look to the next phase of our strategy, Rich is the right choice to execute our plans and deliver shareholder value,” Ripp said in a statement.