Dive Brief:

• Gannett, parent company of USA TODAY, announced Monday the appointment of Douglas Horne as CFO, effective April 7.

• Horne, a CPA, most recently served as global controller for The We Company, parent company of WeWork, where he was responsible for accounting, internal audit, shared services and tax functions. 

• Horne's arrival comes as Gannett puts in place a widespread cost-cutting campaign to offset its plummet in advertising revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Dive Insight:

Horne replaces Alison Engel, who stepped down at the end of the first quarter, to pursue other opportunities. Gannett Treasurer Mark Maring led the finance function during the search for a replacement.

Last week, while the company was still operating with an acting CFO, Gannett announced it had suspended its dividend, and had made plans to implement up to $125 million in cost cuts, including one-week-per-month furloughs for non-essential employees, until the virus recedes.

These cuts come alongside previous cuts related to the merger of New Media Investment Group and Gannett, which formed a new Gannett upon closing the deal in November, subsidiary USA TODAY reported on April 1.

Prior to WeWork, Horne spent eight years at Warner Media LLC (formerly Time Warner Inc.), most recently as senior vice president and controller, where he also led the company’s global sourcing organization. 

Before Warner Media, Horne was deputy CFO and chief accounting officer at AOL, managing a 400-person team across global accounting, financial planning and analysis, shared services, tax and treasury.

"[Having] established the public-company finance and accounting functions for the spin-off of AOL from Time Warner, as well as leading the administrative integration planning and cost synergies program for the AT&T and Time Warner merger, Doug is a perfect fit for our organization," Gannett Chairman and CEO Michael Reed said in the announcement.