A major shake-up struck Politico, the rapidly growing political news organization that became known for its obsessive coverage of Washington D.C.
Huffington Post first broke the story of the departures.
CEO Jim VandeHei, Chief White House Correspondent Mike Allen, COO Kim Kingsley, Chief Revenue Officer Roy Schwartz, and EVP Danielle Jones will all be leaving the company. VandeHei and Allen’s were seen as the most surprising as they helped the launch the publication nine years ago. Allen single-handedly brings in several hundred thousand dollars to the organization through his Playbook newsletter and Playbook Breakfast events that Allen anchored/moderated.
The fate of the Playbook newsletter was not announced, but Daniel Lippman has been co-authoring the newsletter on many days. Playbook comes out every day of the year and has had for several years.
Another surprise was a non-departure. Susan Glasser, who has been running the newsroom, will be staying with the company and become Director of Editorial Innovation. Glasser’s husband, New York Times correspondent Peter Baker, is widely expected to be named the next Jerusalem bureau chief for the paper, and Glasser will remain with the company even as she leaves the country.
John Harris, editor-in-chief for Politico, will now take on the role of publisher, in addition to his current role.
VandeHei is said to be considering a political office run while Allen is thinking about starting a new news organization, but not one that would compete with Politico.