Andrew Lack (executive)

Andrew Lack
Born (1947-05-16) May 16, 1947[1]
New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma mater Boston University[2]
Occupation Chairman of NBC News and MSNBC

Andrew Lack, born May 16, 1947, is the chairman of NBC News and MSNBC.[3][4]

Prior to NBC, Lack held a series of media executive positions, including as the chairman and CEO of Bloomberg Media Group; chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment; and president and chief operating officer of NBC Universal.[5]

He began his career as a journalist at CBS, winning 10 Emmy Awards[2] and two Peabody Awards[6] as a television producer.

Early life

Lack was born in New York City. He attended the Browning School, a private school in New York, and graduated from Boston University's College of Fine Arts in 1968.[2] After graduation, he appeared as an actor in numerous television commercials and an off-Broadway production.[2]

Career

CBS

In 1976, Lack was hired by 60 Minutes creator Don Hewitt at CBS News as a producer for the personality-driven television show Who's Who. That led to a job as a producer for 60 Minutes.[2] Lack produced such segments as "Inside Afghanistan"[7] and "Kissinger and The Oil Embargo."[8] He wrote and directed the segment "The Real Malcolm X: An Intimate Portrait of the Man."[9][10]

He later became the executive producer for CBS Reports, where he stayed for seven years, followed by a four-year stint starting in 1985 as the executive producer of West 57th hosted by Meredith Vieira, a long-format news program.[2][11] West 57th was known for mixing new storytelling techniques and topics with the same journalistic standards as 60 Minutes.[12]

His work as a CBS producer includes "The Boat People" (about Vietnamese refugees),[13] "Teddy" (about Ted Kennedy)[14] and "The Defense of the United States" (about the Cold War) with Walter Cronkite.[15]

NBC

Lack was hired as president of NBC News in 1993, in part to restore credibility to the news division, after it was discovered the news program Dateline had faked an explosion during a truck safety segment.[3]

By Lack's third year, NBC Nightly News with anchor Tom Brokaw became the number-one rated evening news program, beating World News Tonight with Peter Jennings on ABC News.[3] Lack also greatly expanded Dateline, from once weekly to multiple nights each week.[16]

After Bryant Gumbel left the Today show, Lack replaced him with Matt Lauer. Lack also moved Today into a new, $15 million street-side studio, known as Studio 1A.[17] With Lauer as anchor, Today became the highest-rated morning news show for the next 16 years.[3] The cable news network MSNBC was also created under Lack.[3]

In 2001, Lack left the news division to become president[16] and chief operating officer of NBC, the television network.[3][16]

Sony

Lack joined Sony Music Entertainment in 2003 as Chairman and CEO.[18] Amid sharply declining sales in the music industry, Lack cut the staff by 25% to about 6,000 people.[16]

In 2004, Lack led a merger with BMG. Lack became CEO of the new Sony BMG, a 50-50 venture with Germany's Bertelsmann that resulted in the second-largest music company in the world.[16]

At Sony BMG, he pushed the company further into video, including television programming, and had to contend with the erosion of sales because of music file-sharing services such as Napster.[16] In 2005, he signed Bruce Springsteen to a $110 million contract.[19]

In 2006 he became the chairman of Sony BMG.[20] He later created SonyBMG Films,[21] a division that produced numerous titles including Cadillac Records starring Beyonce.[22] In 2008 he left the company.[2]

Bloomberg

In 2008, Lack returned to broadcast journalism, joining Bloomberg as CEO of its Media Group,[3] running television, radio and digital properties, including 11 television channels internationally.[23] The New York Times reported that he cut losses in half and doubled revenue.[3] He became chairman of Bloomberg Media Group in 20013[24] and stayed with Bloomberg until 2014.[2]

NBC

Lack rejoined NBC News and MSNBC in 2015[25] in the aftermath of a crisis generated when NBC Nightly News host Brian Williams was suspended without pay for six months for misrepresenting events which occurred while he was covering the 2003 Iraq War.[26] NBC News also faced a decline in ratings for Today and poor ratings for MSNBC.[25]

Lack named Lester Holt as the new anchor of NBC Nightly News to replace Williams.[27] The show was a ratings success, coming in first for the full 2014-2015 season (four months of which was anchored by Williams).[28]

After Williams' suspension was over, Lack decided to bring him back as the breaking news anchor for MSNBC as part of a shift toward hard-news in network's daytime programming.[29] Lack announced closer collaboration between NBC News and MSNBC,[30] cancelled three opinion-based daytime MSNBC shows,[31][32] and gave Meet the Press host Chuck Todd a daily afternoon program called MTP Daily.[33] MSNBC ratings subsequently improved in the first quarter of 2016, with daytime viewership up by more than 100%.[34] Lack also unified the digital operations of NBC News and MSNBC under a new division head.[35] Today became the first place morning news show, surpassing Good Morning America in total viewers as of March 31, 2016, following a six-month lead among the 25-54 year olds.[36][37]

Personal life

Lack is married to [38] Betsy Kenny Lack,[39] head of global brand strategy for Snapchat,[40] with whom he has two sons.[41]

References

  1. ↑ "Andrew Lack". Hollywood.com.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Jahnke, Art (Summer 2011). "News Without End". Bostonia. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Koblin, John (9 June 2015). "Andrew Lack Returns to NBC News Amid Turmoil". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Grove, Lloyd (2015-12-21). "Can MSNBC Re-Center Itself? Andy Lack on Breaking News, 'Today,' and Brian Williams". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2016-07-27.
  5. ↑ "Andrew Lack". Bloomberg. Bloomberg. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "CBS' Lack named head of NBC News". Baltimore Sun. 8 April 1993. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  7. ↑ Spragens, William (1 January 1995). Electronic Magazines: Soft News Programs on Network Television. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 29. ISBN 0275941558. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  8. ↑ Lack, Andrew (22 January 1978). "The Oil Embargo". 60 Minutes. CBS News.
  9. ↑ 1992 CBS NEWS SPECIAL REPORT: "Malcolm X: The Real Story", 2014-10-04, retrieved 2016-06-04
  10. ↑ Weinstock, David (2008). Malcolm X, African American Revolutionary. McFarland. p. 211. ISBN 0786439343. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  11. ↑ HALL, JANE (1993-04-13). "NBC Not for Sale, GE Chair Tells News Staff Employees". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
  12. ↑ Battaglio, Stephen (6 March 2015). "Andrew Lack takes command of NBC's troubled news operation". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  13. ↑ Fisher, Bob (October 1979). ""The Boat People" as Filmed for CBS". American Cinematographor. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  14. ↑ Shales, Tom (22 November 1979). "Teddy's Torment: A TV Soap Opera". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  15. ↑ O'Connor, John (14 June 1981). "TV View; A FIVE- PART EXAMINATION OF U.S. DEFENSES". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lieberman, David (13 June 2005). "Lack is determined to be more than a music man". USA Today. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  17. ↑ Shishter, Gail (20 June 1994). "'Today's' New Home Nbc's Dawn Patrol Unveils Its "Window On The World" Studio Today. Now, Rockefeller Plaza And 49th Street - And The People On Them - Are Part Of The Show.". Philly.com. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  18. ↑ Ordonez, Jenniefr (1 January 2013). "Sony Taps NBC's President To Head Sickly Music Unit". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  19. ↑ "The Peripatetic News Career of Andrew Lack". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-08-12.
  20. ↑ "Sony BMG's chairman, CEO Switch Jobs". NBC News. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  21. ↑ "Andrew Lack, CEO Multimedia Group, Bloomberg LP". PaleyCenter.org. The Paley Center For Media. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  22. ↑ Cohen, Jonathan (11 November 2008). "Beyonce Belts It Out On 'Cadillac' Soundtrack". Billboard. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  23. ↑ Mnookin, Seth. "Bloomberg Without Bloomberg". The Hive. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
  24. ↑ Lieberman, David (2013-07-29). "Justin Smith Named CEO Of Bloomberg Media As Andy Lack Becomes Chairman". Deadline. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
  25. 1 2 Wemple, Erok (6 March 2015). "NBC hires Andy Lack as chairman of NBC News and MSNBC". Washington Post. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  26. ↑ Steel, Emily (10 February 2015). "Brian Williams Suspended From NBC for 6 Months Without Pay". New York Times. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  27. ↑ Wemple, Erik (18 June 2015). "It's Official: Brian Williams moves to MSNBC; Lester Holt to be permanent anchor of 'NBC Nightly News'". Washington Post. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  28. ↑ Ariens, Chris (22 September 2015). "Nightly News No. 1 for 19 Seasons". TV Newser. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  29. ↑ Guthrie, Marisa (25 September 2015). "NBC News Chief Andy Lack: "Solid Start" for Brian Williams on MSNBC". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  30. ↑ de Moraes, Lisa. "Andrew Lack Points MSNBC Back To Its Hard-News Roots With Troop-Rallying Meeting At 30 Rock". Deadline.com. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  31. ↑ Byers, Dylan (30 July 2015). "MSNBC cancels 3 shows amid transition". Politico. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  32. ↑ Battaglio, Stephen (30 July 2015). "MSNBC cancels three daytime shows, adds Chuck Todd". L.A. Times. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  33. ↑ Steinberg, Brian (17 September 2015). "MSNBC's Re-Do Will Make it Look More Like NBC News Channel". Variety. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  34. ↑ "MSNBC's year of standing up straight". POLITICO Media. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
  35. ↑ Calderone, Michael (3 November 2015). "NBC, MSNBC Shake Up Digital Operations". Huffington Post. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  36. ↑ Steinberg, Brian (2016-03-31). "Morning-Show Wars Take a Twist as 'Today' Trumps 'GMA' in Total Viewers". Retrieved 2016-07-27.
  37. ↑ "After 4 Years in Second Place, NBC's Today Show Retakes the Morning Show Lead". www.adweek.com. Retrieved 2016-07-27.
  38. ↑ Atkinson, Claire (3 March 2015). "Andy Lack and Brian Williams are likely package deal for NBC News". New York Post. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  39. ↑ Somaiya, Ravi (22 June 2014). "Vanity Fair's Fall Conference Taps Power of the Rolodex". New York Times. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  40. ↑ Wagner, Kurt (2016-05-25). "Snapchat has hired former Vanity Fair editor Betsy Lack to run global brand strategy". Recode. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
  41. ↑ "BG Names Andy Lack CEO". BBG.gov. Broadcasting Board of Governers. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
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