Dave Finocchio is leaving Turner’s Bleacher Report, the millennial-skewing digital sports company he co-founded in 2005 and led as CEO for the last three years.
With Finocchio set to exit in June, Turner Sports has named Howard Mittman as CEO of Bleacher Report to replace him. Finocchio hired Mittman, who has held a dual role as chief revenue officer and CMO, in August 2017. Once Finocchio leaves, Mittman will report to Matt Hong, COO of Turner Sports, who has overseen Bleacher Report for the last six years.
In a memo to staff announcing his planned departure, Finocchio didn’t indicate what he expects to do next. “I’ve long known that it wasn’t the right thing for me to do this forever,” he wrote. “I view life as a collection of experiences, and though BR might very well be the most incredible journey I’ll ever go on, I want to have some others.”
Turner bought B/R in 2012 for around $175 million. Finocchio left in late 2014 to start Binge Media, a mobile content-discovery platform. Turner then in January 2016 hired Finocchio to return to Bleacher Report as CEO; as part of Finocchio’s return to B/R, Turner acquired the assets of Binge Media.
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Bleacher Report, which targets millennial and Gen Z sports fans, claims to reach more than 250 million people monthly across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter alone with brands that include House of Highlights, B/R Football and B/R Kicks.
Prior to joining B/R, Mittman worked for 12 years at Condé Nast, most recently as chief business officer of its men’s group. Before that Mittman was acting publisher for Popular Science and held positions at New York magazine, Mutual Funds, Financial Planning magazine and Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
“Howard has a wealth of industry experience to match his creativity, innovative thinking and unwavering passion for the Bleacher Report brand,” Turner Sports’ Hong said in a statement. He also thanked Finocchio, “without whom there would be no B/R, whose contributions to the organization are immeasurable and will be seen for years to come throughout the business strategy and products.”