What weak newspaper economy? Not for ‘chief revenue officer’

Even in this bleak newspaper economy, being a “chief revenue officer” (whatever the hell that means) seems to be thriving.

Andy Wiedlin went from chief revenue officer at BuzzFeed to entrepreneur-in-residence (whatever the hell that means) at Andreessen Horowitz.

Jed Hartman went from group publisher for Time, Fortune and Money to chief revenue officer at the Washington Post.

Hartman’s predecessor, Kevin Gentzel, who lasted 18 months at the Post, has this rotating chief revenue officer gig down pat. He went from Forbes to News Distribution Network to the Washington Post in a less than three years. Hardly enough time to etch his name on his office door.

Michael Rooney went from chief revenue officer at the Wall Street Journal to the same title at Tribune Publishing.

When Taylor Corp. bought the Minneapolis Star Tribune this year, top Star Trib ad executive Jeff Griffing became Taylor’s chief revenue officer.

Even sports teams get into the act. 

The Cleveland Browns made Brent Stehlik their chief revenue officer in late 2012.

On another note, Pete Bale went from vice president and general manager of digital operations at CNN International to CEO at the Center for Public Integrity. There HAS to be a joke or punch line in there somewhere.

I guess chief financial officer and bookkeeper are relics of the past. A bean-counter by any other name is still a rose, apparently.