Adweek, which named Mr. Wolff to the post barely a year ago, announced on Monday that he would be succeeded by the publication’s executive editor, Jim Cooper.
“We are grateful for Michael’s contribution to Adweek,” James Finkelstein, chairman of the Adweek parent, Prometheus Global Media, said in an article on adweek.com.
“His vision and guidance were essential during our monumental transformation,” Mr. Finkelstein said. That was a reference to the remaking of Adweek in April from a trade publication covering the advertising and marketing industries into a more consumer-oriented publication that played up coverage of the personalities and issues of the media and entertainment worlds.
Those changes were accompanied by the merging into Adweek of two trade publications that had been its siblings, Brandweek and Mediaweek.
In recent weeks, various reports in The New York Post and elsewhere claimed that Mr. Wolff was about to be fired after clashing with Mr. Finkelstein over the direction of Adweek. Mr. Wolff had irreverently batted away those rumors and even printed a small item in last week’s issue, in a section called “Up/Down,” that read, “Michael Wolff defies media rumors and still edits Adweek.” (That earned him an “Up.”)
His departure from Adweek was, however, not reported in this week’s issue, which came out on Monday. Rather, it was covered in the article on adweek.com, which was followed by an article, billed as “A Letter to Adweek’s Readers,” about Mr. Cooper’s plans.
Mr. Cooper and Mr. Finkelstein “are not going to do interviews,” a spokeswoman for Prometheus Global Media, Lisa Dallos, wrote in an e-mail, because they preferred to let the letter and article “do the talking.”
Mr. Wolff did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Some speculation about Mr. Wolff’s departure, particularly those in The Post, was related to his aggressive coverage in Adweek, and his interviews elsewhere, about the phone-hacking scandal that has engulfed the News Corporation and its owner, Rupert Murdoch. Mr. Wolff wrote a biography of Mr. Murdoch, who also owns The Post.
“Michael created some interesting content at Adweek, and I loved his coverage of Rupert Murdoch,” said Joe Mandese, editor in chief at MediaPost, which publishes online and print media and marketing trade publications. “But I could read that in New York or Vanity Fair.”
Mr. Mandese questioned how successful trade publications “that want to cover the media business for consumers” could be when there were “plenty of consumer publications that cover the media business.”
And the idea that altering the Adweek editorial formula would help bring in “upscale advertising” from marketers of products like automobiles and liquor has so far not panned out, Mr. Mandese said.
As the speculation about his departure intensified, Mr. Wolff portrayed the situation as a dispute between his vision for Adweek and how Mr. Finkelstein saw the magazine. Mr. Wolff spoke approvingly of having a publication with a broader mandate to cover the media business, a departure from the niche approach of covering the ins and outs of the advertising business that Madison Avenue had come to expect.
At an event on Oct. 6, during Advertising Week 2011 in New York, Mr. Wolff, in reply to a question about what was happening at Adweek, said, “There is a discussion going on in my company over what this magazine should be.”
One side, he said, “wants a magazine that tells a smaller story, the traditional ad trade magazine story, who’s winning what accounts.”
“I would not want to tell” that story, he added, but rather supported “another side which wants another story,” about the “incredible transformation” of the advertising, marketing and media businesses.
For that story, Mr. Wolff said, “I think I’m a pretty good choice.”
Also that week, Mr. Finkelstein had provided a mild statement of support for Mr. Wolff: “Michael’s name is still on the masthead. He is not being fired.”
The article on adweek.com included a statement from Mr. Wolff that began: “I’ve had a fantastic time at Adweek. It’s been my privilege to be part of the brilliant transformation of the magazine and site.” It continued in that gushy, un-Wolff-like vein for three more sentences.
It is unclear whether Mr. Wolff’s departure means Adweek will refocus its coverage and return to its roots, resuming its decades-long, head-to-head battle with the trade publication Advertising Age. The letter to readers from Mr. Cooper praised the revamping and declared, “The new Adweek is out of the gate and running.”
The letter also stated that “flexibility, partnership and speedy execution will win the day and be the hallmarks of the new Adweek.”
Abbey Klaassen, editor of Advertising Age, part of Crain Communications, declined to comment on the Adweek announcement, which received no coverage on Monday on the Advertising Age Web site, adage.com.
There has been other uncertainty at the top of Adweek’s parent company, which also publishes The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard.
The role of Richard D. Beckman, chief executive of Prometheus, was diminished in July when he gave up his sole responsibility for the company’s day-to-day operations to Mr. Finkelstein and took a post in brand development. Mr. Beckman had brought Mr. Wolff to Adweek and Prometheus Global Media.
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