Taylor Steps Down But Not Out

Andy Taylor is stepping down as executive chairman of Sanctuary Music Group and is reported to be concentrating on a new business plan to steer the company out of trouble.

He’s expected to be replaced by a non-executive chairman while he still retains the chief exec’s role and sorts the problems that continue to bubble up on both sides of the Atlantic.

The news that Sanctuary has “mutually agreed” that U.S.-based senior VP Max Gousse can leave, and senior agents Troy Carter, Tony Davis and Julius (Jay) Erving III have been fired for “cause” – although nobody’s saying exactly which cause – meant the note about Taylor’s change of roles that the company posted on RNS (the London Stock Exchange’s Regulatory News Service) almost slipped past the U.K. media.

However, Dan Milmo of The Guardian picked up on it and the paper ran a three-paragraph story in its November 18 edition that detailed Taylor’s change of role. The rest of the U.K.’s business pages were expected to cover it over the course of the weekend.

Sanctuary is about £120 million in debt and has let go of around 175 execs and staffers – a quarter of the workforce – in order to turn things around.

— John Gammon