• by Sara Guaglione , February 23, 2016

Another major leadership shake-up has hit Tribune Publishing: Jack Griffin has been ousted from his position as CEO. The move was reportedly organized by a partner he recently brought into the company, Michael Ferro.

Griffin will be replaced by medical-industry executive Justin C. Dearborn, the company announced Tuesday. Dearborn is a longtime associate of Griffin’s.

The news of Griffin’s ouster was first reported by Ken Doctor from Politico Media. According to Doctor, Ferro led the board to fire Griffin. Doctor also notes this is the second time in five years that Griffin has been let go as the CEO of a big media company. Griffin was previously fired at Time after six months as the head executive.

Ironically, Griffin’s own departure comes less than six months after he fired L.A. Times publisher Austin Beutner, which at the time sparked backlash from Los Angeles’ business elite.

Ferro, a Chicago-based investor who also owns the Chicago Sun-Times, became non-executive chairman of the publisher’s board earlier this month, after he invested $44 million for a 16.6% stake in Tribune, which owns publications like the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune.

The investment was initially intended to support Griffin's strategy to expand the company’s Southern California holdings. Tribune acquired The San Diego Union-Tribune last year and plans to be a bidder in the auction next month for the Orange County Register and The Press-Enterprise, owned by bankrupt Freedom Communications.

It is unclear what impact Griffin’s exit will have on the sale of Freedom’s two newspapers.

In a release, the company praised Griffin for being “instrumental” in the spin-off that created Tribune Publishing Company as an independent, publicly traded company.

Dearborn added, “I want to thank Jack Griffin for his leadership as I inherit a strong foundation and the privilege of leading these iconic brands through the next chapter of innovation and transformation.”

Griffin stated that he was “proud” of the way Tribune reorganized after the spin-off.

“With the progress and foundation that has been laid, the timing is right for a new leader to come on board and lead Tribune Publishing through its next phase of transformation,” he added.

Dearborn was previously CEO of Merge Healthcare Inc., which was bought by IBM in October 2015 in a $1 billion deal. The L.A. Times reported that Ferro was a financial backer of Merge and that Dearborn has worked for Ferro since the mid-’90s.

“Tribune Publishing has a significant opportunity to leverage technology to increase the value of its content and distribution channels,” stated Dearborn. “Although this is a different medium than my last technology company, it has the same challenge on how to create the highest value for our content.”

No word on how the executive shuffle will impact well-respected top executives that Griffin had appointed in the last year, including former New York Times executives Denise Warren, Mark Campbell, Rajiv Pant and Mohit Pandey and former Dow Jones chief revenue officer Michael Rooney.