DMGT heir apparent Vere Harmsworth has been appointed in the newly-created role of director of publishing strategy at the company’s publishing arm.
Harmsworth, the son of DMGT proprietor, chairman and chief executive Lord Rothermere (né Jonathan Harmsworth), will report to Mail Newspapers editor-in-chief Ted Verity and Mail Online publisher and editor Danny Groom.
The DMG Media role has been created, they said, “as we evolve to embrace all the digital opportunities and challenges of the future”.
In a note to staff, Verity and Groom said: “Vere’s job will be to ensure we extract the maximum possible value from every piece of content we produce – whether that’s our brilliant exclusives, features, commentary, interviews or videos – across all digital platforms and mediums from MailOnline to The Mail+, TikTok to YouTube to podcasts.”
The role is a strategic one and does not mean Harmsworth will make any editorial decisions.
Since January 2020 Harmsworth, who is in his late 20s, has worked in business development at DMG Media – specifically looking at the subscriptions strategy at Mail+, which relaunched its offering last year.
Verity and Groom continued: “Over the past few years, many of you will have worked with Vere and seen first-hand what a smart and engaging executive he is – as perceptive on the details as he is on overall strategy.
“Vere is one of the many reasons we’re supremely confident the Mail will emerge from this period of far-reaching transformation stronger and more successful than ever.”
Lord Rothermere took DMGT, which also owns the Metro, i and New Scientist, private at the end of 2021 in what he later described as a bid to “free it from the capricious short-termism of the City”.
The Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Mail Online teams have since all been brought “much closer together” as the company prepares for future growth opportunities in digital.
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