Bloomberg Media loses chief revenue officer
Paul Caine is out at Bloomberg Media only two years after he landed as the division’s chief revenue officer.
Caine told surprised staffers he is working on something that he will unveil in the fall, but declined to be more specific.
“Those who know me are well aware that throughout my career I have delicately balanced a strong passion for our industry with a deep involvement in many creative, philanthropic and entrepreneurial ventures that closely align with my passions and experience,” Caine wrote in a memo distributed to staffers Tuesday morning.
“I have decided to shift this balance by deepening some of my existing commitments and I look forward to sharing more details of my next venture in the coming months,” he continued.
He told staffers he will exit in mid-July, leaving many scratching their heads over the reason for the hasty exit.
Caine joined Bloomberg Media shortly before the appointment of Jacki Kelley as COO. Sources said that Kelley had first introduced Caine to Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith and had pushed for Caine’s hiring.
And with yesterday’s announcement, Kelley made an effort to downplay rumblings of any tension between them.
“If you want to be a CRO , this is the best company in the world for that. But if you don’t want to be a CRO any longer, I totally understand that decision,” Kelley told Media Ink. She declined to discuss revenue figures but said that “we’re just getting started and his [Caine’s] handprint is on the foundation of everything we’re building.”
Smith had told staffers last week that ad revenue in the first five months of 2016 was running 11 percent ahead of its year-ago figures. Oddly, the chief revenue officer’s name was not highlighted in the announcement boasting about the gains.
One tipster pointed out the company has yet to match the ad revenue figure it racked up in 2013, when it had $205 million in ad revenue.
“One of the problems is that they had promised [CEO and company founder] Mike Bloomberg that this could be a $1 billion business,” said one source close to the situation.