O'Reilly to step down as INM CEO

Anthony O'Reilly is to step down as CEO of Independent News and Media (INM), it was announced this morning.

O'Reilly will retire as CEO and as a Director of the Board on May 7 - his 73rd birthday. O'Reilly is the largest shareholder of the company with a 28.5% stake and has been the strategic driving force behind INM for the past 36 years.

His son Gavin O’Reilly becomes CEO-designate with immediate effect and will succeed his father upon his retirement in May.

The board of INM is also to be reduced from 17 to 10 members, the company said. Three new directors will be appointed, nominated by rival shareholder Denis O'Brien. The three are Leslie Buckley, Paul Connolly and Lucy Gaffney.

The move follows boardroom battles between O'Reilly and O'Brien, who has built up a 25% stake in the company, and comes ahead of a deadline for the company to repay a €200m bond.

“It has been more than three decades since I first became involved with Independent and in that time it has been my pleasure to have worked with a range of highly talented and hugely committed directors and colleagues," O'Reilly said.

"Together, we have expanded this Irish newspaper group and enshrined a fiercely independent editorial policy that is widely respected across the world. As the largest shareholder, I will continue to support their legacy and this wonderful Group in the furtherance of its strategy.”

Independent News and Media is a leading international newspaper and communications group, with its main interests in Australia, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK.

Across these regions, the group publishes more than 200 newspaper and magazine titles, including the Irish Independent and the Sunday Independent.

The company also announced it will issue its preliminary 2008 results on April 24.