Emmott steps down after 13 years editing The Economist

by Staff, Brand Republic 21-Feb-06, 11:00

LONDON - Bill Emmott, editor-in-chief for The Economist, is to step down from the role after 13 years to focus on writing books.

Emmott has been with The Economist for 26 years, working his way up from Brussels correspondent in 1980, becoming financial editor in 1986 then business affairs editor in 1989. He took on his current job in March 1993.

He will stay on at the magazine until a new editor is found, but this could be as soon as March 21, according to reports. The appointment will be approved by four trustees of the Economist Group board. Contenders are likely to include: Emma Duncan, who is deputy editor; John Micklethwait, US editor; and Matthew Bishop, American business editor.

In the most recent figures published by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, The Economist reported a 4.5% rise in circulation over the past year to sell an average of 514,124 copies an issue worldwide, excluding the Americas. The magazine has a global circulation in excess of 1m.

The magazine is renowned for its long-running advertising campaign, created by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, which continues to win awards.

Famous executions from the campaign include the much-copied "I never read the Economist -- management trainee, aged 42" poster, and a television ad where a fellow inmate of Nelson Mandela recalls how they tricked guards at Robben Island into giving them access to The Economist before they realised it was a current affairs magazine and not about economic theory.

Emmott's books include 'The Sun Also Sets' and '20:21 Vision: The Lessons of the Twentieth Century for the Twenty-First'.

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