Forgive us if you’ve heard this before, but… Rumors are circulating about who will be the next Time Inc. CEO. According to The New York Post, Jeff Bewkes — CEO of Time Warner — wants to find a replacement for Laura Lang before summer begins, and so some names have been floated:

• David Geithner, executive vice president and group president of the Style & Entertainment Group
• Howard Averill, executive vice president and CFO
• Todd Larsen, executive vice president and group president of the News & Sports Group
• Greg Coleman, a former AOL and HuffPost exec
• Eileen Naughton, VP of global sales at Google

Please bookmark this post so we don’t have to write a “Rumors of new Time Inc. CEO” post again in about a year.

The long process of finding the next Time Inc. CEO is finally over. Congrats go to Laura Lang, most recently the CEO of the ad agency Digitas. Lang had been with Digitas since 2008.

The hiring of Lang came at just the right time. Back in July word circulated that the leadership trio of John Huey, Howard Averill and Maurice Edelson wouldn’t be considered for the CEO position, and as the search went on many staffers became worried about what the lack of a CEO would mean for Time in the long run.

Thankfully for them, that wait is over. The Wall Street Journal reports that Lang is expected to be formally introduced at some point this afternoon.

It seems like the terrific trio at Time Inc. that has been manning the ship since Jack Griffin was forced out isn’t that terrific after all. According to The New York Post Time is now looking for a new CEO, but it’ll be someone from the outside; preferably someone who once worked at Time.

None of the three that replaced Griffin – which includes John Huey, Howard Averill and Maurice Edelson - are being considered for the job:

‘We felt and I felt that we have good management underneath that can work in a team effort,’ [Time Warner CEO] Jeff Bewkes said at the company’s shareholders meeting several weeks ago. ‘Some of them are here today. And they’re doing a very excellent job. But the agreement that we made, between the three of them and us, was that they are not candidates for the CEO job.’

That’s the agreement that they all made? Uh, right. We would’ve have loved to be a fly on the wall (or a fish in a bowl!) for that conversation.

Bewkes: “Okay, so you all agree with me that we need to hire someone outside and that none of you are capable, or even want, to handle this promotion, which comes with a power and pay increase?”
Huey: “Sounds great boss!”
Averill: “Why would I want more money? That’s ridiculous.”
Edelson: “I’m completely content with not advancing my career!”

Time Inc. has divided duties among three top executives to oversee things until the company finds a replacement for Jack Griffin. Dubbed the Three Wise Men (don’t quote us on that) the trio includes Chief Financial Officer Howard Averill, Editor-in-Chief John Huey and General Counsel Maurice Edelson.

Averill’s duties are expanding the most of the three to include U.S. marketing and ad sales, as well as Time Inc. operations based in Mexico and Britain. Huey continues to be in charge of editorial content for such heavy hitters as Sports Illustrated, Time and Fortune. Edelson, meanwhile, sees his responsibilities grow to include managing Time Inc.’s administrative groups.

No word on if the three execs will retain these added duties when a new CEO is found, or where the trio plans on finding gold, frankincense, and myrrh in the city, but we’ll keep you posted.

Imagining a magazineless Time Inc.

Via the Revolving Door:

May 21, 2007: Howard Averill has been named chief financial officer at Time Inc. He had been executive vice president and chief financial officer at NBC Television Group. (release)

Why this is important? There’s mounting speculation and pressure from investors for Time Warner to sell Time Inc., and Averill would be a key player in any sale. Plus, check out the “digitizing” of language in Time Inc. press releases, namely, the subtle omission of the word “magazines”:

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