Of Lunches and Oprah: Lyne May Land At OWN
By Rafat Ali - Wed 18 Jun 2008 03:35 PM PST
The grist mill is in full swing: Susan Lyne, the outgoing CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO), is now speaking to Oprah and her business people about running OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, reports Fortune, citing sources. This comes as other rumors about Lyne speaking to Time Inc about taking the top job are also floating around. The cable startup OWN is a JV between Oprah’s Harpo Inc. and Discovery, and due to launch in September 2009.
As for a rumored non-compete clause in Lyne’s separation agreement, the post says: “Not true. An amendment in her separation agreement eliminates the non-compete clause that was in her contract. So Lyne is, in fact, free to work with Oprah.”
Then again, there’s another rumor that MTV Networks’ (NYSE: VIA) CEO Judy McGrath is also speaking to OWN…
Staci adds: Lyne has more than a few major qualifications for the job at OWN, including experience leading an icon-centric company. She and Winfrey have worked together before—Lyne was EVP for movies and mini-series at ABC when Winfrey was doing “Oprah Winfrey Presents” and was responsible for the relationship between ABC and Harpo Productions. OWN and Discovery have already started top-level hiring without a CEO in place, announcing today that Robin Schwartz is leaving Regency Television to join OWN as president.
Posted in: Industry Moves
Tags: susan lyne, mslo,
