Inquirer managing editor to leave for private equity firm

After five years as the No. 2 editor in the Inquirer newsroom, managing editor Anne Gordon has accepted a position as partner in a private investment firm, Dubilier & Co. of Stamford, Conn.

Gordon said today she wanted to bring journalistic values into the private investing realm and "help redefine what newspapers are going to be." The newspaper business is going through a tumultuous period of buy-outs and restructurings because of economic strains placed on it from the Internet and a fragmenting media landscape.

She knows firsthand the consequences of "not innovating fast enough" and will bring that perspective to her new job, Gordon said. She has been through repeated downsizings at the Inquirer.

Her last day will be Friday. She will work from her home in Penn Valley and travel. Gordon, 50, became interested in private equity investment when she sat through meetings with prospective Inquirer buyers in 2006, she said. The Inquirer was eventually bought by a group of local businesspeople.

At Dubilier, she will help buy and build media companies, according to a Dubilier news release. "Anne will lead our efforts to invest in media, technology and entertainment companies," managing partner Michael Dubilier said in the statement. The firm has invested in more than 20 companies.

Inquirer Editor Bill Marimow said that since he returned to the newspaper in November 2006 "Anne has been instrumental in helping the newsroom as we navigated a very difficult and traumatic period."

Marimow said he learned of Gordon's departure this morning, and intends to search inside the newsroom and outside for her replacement. He did not set a timetable.