Yahoo Finance Martin Clarke to step down as editor of MailOnline
Resignation announced just weeks after Clarke appeared to be one of victors in DMG Media internal power struggle
The editor of MailOnline, one of the UK’s biggest online news websites, has announced he is leaving, weeks after appearing to be one of the victors in an internal power struggle at its owner, DMG Media.
Martin Clarke, who had been editor-in-chief at the online arm of the publisher that also owns the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, will stand down at the end of February. He has been at MailOnline for 12 years.
In a statement he said he had told the group’s owner, Lord Rothermere, earlier this year that he wanted to leave “to pursue new challenges”.
“This has been a once-in-a-lifetime ride and there is simply no other job with DMG Media I would rather have,” he said. A successor is yet to be named.
It comes just over a fortnight after changes at the Daily Mail appeared to bring tensions to an end between the daily newspaper, its Sunday sister paper and the website.
Related: Editor ousting spells end of Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday civil war
The Daily Mail’s editor, Georgie Grieg, left in mid-November after three years in charge and was replaced by the Mail on Sunday editor Ted Verity, seen as an ally of Clarke.
Five days later Paul Dacre, Grieg’s predecessor, was reappointed as editor-in-chief of DMG Media, three weeks after he had left the role. Clarke was seen as being in a similar mould to Dacre, and therefore his role, and that of MailOnline, appeared to be strengthened.
In response to his exit, Rothermere said: “I have had to reluctantly accept Martin’s resignation as he is without doubt one of the greatest editors of his generation; and I am eternally grateful to him for all his immense hard work and genius over the years.
“The Daily Mail is great because of the hard work of many not just the few. Martin leaves behind him a legacy of an impressive number of highly talented and committed people across the company who will continue to build upon what he has created and keep the Daily Mail a huge success across the globe.”
