Guardian Media Group chief executive Andrew Miller is to step down at the end of June 2015 after five years in the job.
His departure will come around the same time as the exit of Alan Rusbridger who leaves after 20 years as Guardian editor.
He said: “Having achieved our strategy to streamline the group, secure its financial future and set it on the path to digital success, I have decided that mid-2015 will be the right time for me to explore new opportunities and for a new editor and chief executive to take the company on the next big phase of the Guardian’s digital growth and international expansion.
“My successor will inherit a business with very strong commercial foundations in place.
He joined GMG as chief financial officer in 2009 and became chief executive the following year.
He previously spent six years as chief financial officer of Trader Media Group.
In March GMG completed the sale of its 50.1 per cent stake in Autotrader publisher Trader Media Group reaping £619m from the process.
Miller received a bonus of £1.4m last year on top of his salary if £696,000 as a result of the Trader sale. He deferred a short-term bonus of £226,000.
According to GMG, the company now has long-term reserves of more than £850 million. This is enough, the company says, to “secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity”.
The Guardian and Observer titles made a loss of £30.6m in the year to the end of March 2014 on turnover of £210.2m. This compares with a loss of £37.8m on turnover of £221m in the 2009/2010 financial year.
Operating losses for GMG as a whole were £19.4m for the year to 30 March 2014 on turnover of £210m. GMG said this loss was more than covered by investment income.
Digital revenue was said to be up 24 per cent to £70m, a growth trend that has continued in the current financial year.
Scott Trust chair Dame Liz Forgan said: “From his exceptional stewardship of our portfolio of assets to his unfailing support of our journalism, Andrew has been a tremendous champion of the Guardian. We owe him a great deal and wish him every possible success.
“GMG is entering a new period of growth, thanks to the strategic leadership of Andrew Miller and Alan Rusbridger. Together, they have positioned the Guardian to build on its worldwide audience and to capitalise on its new commercial and digital opportunities.”
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