Simon Fox will leave his position as chief of the owner of Daily Mirror Reach | Business

Simon Fox, the managing director of the company owning the Mirror, Express and Star newspapers, will retire and will be replaced by former Ladbrokes Coral director Jim Mullen.

Fox runs Reach, the national and regional press group formerly known as Trinity Mirror, since 2012, after his abrupt resignation as HMV's general manager. Fox will leave Reach, the UK's largest regional news group, on August 16th.

He will be replaced by Mullen, who left Ladbrokes Coral last year after being bought by GVC for £ 4 billion. Previously, he held the position of Director of Digital Strategy at News UK, which owns the Sun, The Times and Sunday Times brands.

"I'm excited to join Reach at such an exciting time and look forward to continuing its digital transformation," said Mullen.

Under Fox, the Reach share price has almost tripled, with the group having made a series of acquisitions to gain momentum, with the newspaper market struggling to reduce print sales and the transfer of print spend. Digital advertising to the giants of Silicon Valley, Google and Facebook.

Last year, Reach spent £ 200 million on Richard Desmond's media badets, including Express and Star, as well as the celebrity magazine OK! In 2015, the company purchased Local World, a group of more than 80 regional newspapers, for £ 220 million. Fox's biggest strategic blunder was the launch of the national newspaper The New Day, which was closed after just two months.

"There is never a good time to leave an organization, but if there was one right now," said Fox. "The integration of the Express and Star has been successfully completed, digital growth is accelerating and our trading and cash position is solid."

Reach said it had a pre-tax profit of 58 million pounds in the first half, up from 114 million pounds in the same period last year. Total revenue decreased by 6.3% like-for-like to £ 352 million, while advertising revenue fell by 21%.

"I am pleased with our strong performance in the first half and the strengthening of our digital audience and revenue growth in the second quarter," said Fox. "We remain focused on cost and cash management."

Earlier this month, Reach confirmed that it was in discussion to acquire some of the titles of JPI Media, which publishes the newspaper i, as well as local and regional newspapers, including the Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post.