David Montgomery quits Mecom

David Montgomery has quit Mecom after losing a boardroom showdown to stay on at the company, leaving the pan-European newspaper publisher he founded a decade ago without a chief executive. Montgomery had agreed that he would leave at the end of the month. However, in a statement today the company said that he would be stepping down "with immediate effect". The board of Mecom has been unsuccessfully seeking a replacement for Montgomery since September when a shareholder rebellion forced him to announce a "planned retirement" from the company. Since then Montgomery had indicated that he wanted to stay on, citing evidence that Mecom's performance has improved – the company said yesterday it intends to pay its first dividend since listing in 2005 next year – and that no suitable replacement has emerged. But Montgomery failed to win the day at a board meeting on Wednesday evening with rebel shareholders Aviva and Legal & General threatening an extraordinary general meeting if he did not leave. Mecom's board said yesterday that a "further announcement regarding succession will be made shortly". However, although a number of candidates have been linked with the job – former Publicis senior executive John Farrell and ex-News International executive Mike Anderson among them – no appointment has materialised. Mecom had not returned a call on the proposed interim structure of management of the company by the time of publication. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".