Star Tribune publisher Mike Klingensmith to retire after 13 years

In his negotiations to buy Star Tribune Media Co. in 2014, Glen Taylor, the Mankato billionaire businessman and former state lawmaker, had one condition above others: that Mike Klingensmith stay on as CEO and publisher.

Klingensmith agreed to stay for three years, then remained far longer at Taylor's encouragement. On Thursday, Klingensmith, 69, announced he will retire early next year.

His departure will end a 13-year tenure leading the Star Tribune, eight of them working with one of the state's wealthiest individuals to keep Minnesota's largest news organization viable and independent.

"It's been just a pleasure to work with him, but more importantly, he's just a great person," Taylor said after the news was announced.

Klingensmith, who grew up in Fridley, spent 32 years in senior leadership roles at Time Inc. in New York before returning to lead the Star Tribune in 2010 just after it emerged from a bankruptcy restructuring.

"Mike deeply believes in the value of local news as something people want to consume, and he's willing to invest in that," said David Chavern, chief executive of the News Media Alliance, a group of newspapers and organizations. "He may be the most respected local news publisher in the country."

His departure creates both uncertainty and opportunity for the Star Tribune as it continues to navigate the shift by readers and advertisers to digital devices. Its next leader will confront difficult choices about expenses and investments as that shift continues, and while the broader economy is slowing down.

"Mike has held our paper as one of the top independents in the nation," Taylor said. "Even though it's going to be challenging, if we can keep ourselves in that position, I'll be satisfied."

Amid sweeping industry consolidation and technological transition, the Star Tribune under Klingensmith often outperformed other large regional news organizations in financial results and circulation. He shored up the company's finances in 2013 and 2014 by selling its five blocks of downtown property.

The company also developed new revenue sources as a contract printer, including for the crosstown rival St. Paul Pioneer Press, and with digital marketing services for businesses.

"We've done a good job of keeping contemporary with digital advertising and doing quite well in that world," Klingensmith said. "The bigger question is: How long are we able to retain our base of print readers? We've done really well compared to other markets in that regard."

The company produced operating profits every year in his tenure. And last year, for the first time since 2014, Star Tribune Media experienced a jump in revenue.

Meanwhile, it retained a staff of about 230 journalists — among the largest newsrooms in the country — and launched new sections, a magazine and multimedia products.

"You want to be the indispensable subscription for people with regard to local news and information," Klingensmith said. "If the Star Tribune can continue to be that, I'm pretty confident it'll find a business model that will support that."

Klingensmith remained a believer in the value of local news as digital platforms and other new forms of competition emerged. In 2011, the Star Tribune implemented subscription fees on its website and mobile apps and has since gained about 100,000 subscribers to them.

The company also won three Pulitzer Prizes during his tenure. Editor & Publisher, a trade publication, named Klingensmith publisher of the year in 2011.

"To have worked for Mike is to have been blessed," said Suki Dardarian, the Star Tribune's editor. "He is brilliant, funny, humble and kind and has inspired us all to do our best work for him, for the Star Tribune and, most of all, for Minnesotans."

Klingensmith spent most of his career in New York at Time Inc., which merged with Warner Communications in the late 1980s and AOL in 2000. He was the founding publisher of Entertainment Weekly, president of Sports Illustrated and held other senior executive roles.

He arrived at the Star Tribune just a few months after some local investors bought the company out of a bankruptcy restructuring. For the next several years, Klingensmith positioned the Star Tribune for those investors to sell.

Taylor, who built his fortune in commercial printing and is well-known as the owner of the Timberwolves and Lynx professional basketball teams, emerged as a prospective buyer in 2013. At the same time, Time Warner began recruiting Klingensmith to return as CEO for a planned spinoff of its magazines.

"I went back and forth, back and forth, but one of the considerations was that Glen was ready to buy the company," Klingensmith said. "I was afraid that if I went back to Time, that might impact the deal."

He said he doesn't remember Taylor explicitly making the purchase of the Star Tribune contingent on him. Taylor said Thursday, "I told him I wasn't going to go ahead with the deal unless he was committed to stay on."

Klingensmith recalled that in 2014 he "very much enjoyed the Star Tribune" and worried the Time spinoff might not work. After going public, the former Time magazines were taken private in 2020 and then sold again last year.

Taylor's acquisition made the Star Tribune one of a handful of large news organizations to be owned by a wealthy local business figure rather than a large company.

"He wanted us to drive enough cash flow to support ourselves and our capital needs, but he wasn't looking for any dividend back to him," Klingensmith said. "That's a wonderful and generous arrangement that Glen set us up with, and it's worked quite well up to this day."

He added, "I feel 100 percent that I made the right decision."