With its stock price under pressure, Lisa Knutson, who was named chief operating officer of the E.W. Scripps Co. last year as part of a reorganization, is leaving the company at the end of the year in another shakeup at the broadcaster.
A number of executives who had reported to Knutson will be getting additional responsibilities.
Chief financial officer Jason Combs will oversee distribution and the enterprise strategy team.
Keisha Taylor Starr, who was promoted to chief marketing officer at Scripps last year, has been named head of the company’s struggling national networks unit.
Dean Littleton, senior VP of local media, will also be responsible for streaming and digital.
Chief administrative officer Laura Tomlin will become chief transformation officer.
Beth Welter has been named chief of staff, reporting to Tomlin.
The company’s stock price dropped 10% to $2.12 a share on Monday.
Starr had been CMO of the national networks division before being promoted. Knutson had been in charge of the national networks unit before she became COO of the whole company.
In an email to staff, Scripps CEO Adam Symson outlined the new duties being assigned to managers and said the COO post was being eliminated.
"When I asked Lisa Knutson to be chief operating officer in 2022, her role was to combine our businesses into one media operation, setting us up for success today and into the future. Now that she has completed that work, we are preparing for our next chapter by considering how our company is organized, especially as the media landscape continues to evolve and new challenges are brought to our doorstep," symson said.
Scripps reported a second quarter net loss of $14 million as it took a big writeoff of its national networks unit.
Profits at the national networks unit fell to $37.7 million in the second quarter from $60.3 million a year ago.
Scripps has put one of its networks, Bounce TV, up for sale and the company said it was getting closer to getting a transaction done.
Scripps took on a large debt load when it acquired Ion Network as part of the national networks business.
The debt load has contributed to Scripps stock falling from a 52 week high of $9.98.
