 On June 30, 2009, George Green retired from Hearst Magazines International. In his farewell party in London on May 5, he said: "I'm very proud of what I've accomplished over the years, having expanded our global footprint into more than 100 countries. COSMOPOLITAN, with 60 editions, is the most-widely read women's magazine around the world and we've seen tremendous growth for Esquire and Harper's BAZAAR, as well as with our Australian joint venture with ACP."
Modesty has never been George's strength. Actually, George is very good at telling people what to do. Perhaps, not in the most subtle way.
Is it simply arrogance? Absolutely not. And I know what I am talking about: I was born with a PhD. in arrogance. With George, it is commitment. George sees exactly where he wants his business to go and he sticks to it. It is vision with a touch of passion. Although George would have been a lousy diplomat, he changed the magazine publishing world.
To me, George has always been a formidable competitor. As an executive working on the international development of Hachette-Filipacchi and later Condé Nast, each time I visited a new market with the idea of launching ELLE or subsequently VOGUE, George had been there before me. George had already established COSMOPOLITAN and few other Hearst titles. Of course, I have hundreds of stories and anecdotes about George, who was not always a competitor.
In 1983, as a junior executive working for Hachette, I was sent to New York to test market ELLE, which at that stage had never been published outside France. I went to see George – he was President of The New Yorker at the time – who, with his team, helped me print, distribute and sell advertising, while the editorial content was produced in Paris. Two years later, George moved to Hearst and Rupert Murdoch came in to invest in what became the most successful fashion magazine launch in the US. The rest is history.
What is not so well known is that George had a rare ability to take big risks. Just as he did in China with the Trends group and later on with IDG. George kept his operating cost low and managed his business with just a few executives (mainly the talented and loyal Jeannette Chang and Kim St. Clair Bodden). When he came on board at Hearst, the international division was a fraction of the domestic business. Today, I hear that Hearst Magazines International profits are larger than the earnings generated by the US magazines. George created a gigantic amount of value for Hearst.
But best of all, George became my friend.
When I founded Media Convergence Asia Pacific 10 years ago, George said: "Didier, you should write a newsletter about magazines in the region." The Media Convergence eNewsletter has been published regularly ever since and it is now well-known in the industry.
So, congratulations for your achievements and thank you, George, for your advice.
My warmest and best wishes to you, Wilma, Elisabeth and William.
Au revoir et à bientôt.
Didier Guérin
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