The lads' mags and the trade rags that only Moloney can staple together

Emap has begun a new chapter by appointing an old hand as chief executive. He'll need his know-how to guide the star-studded stable of titles through staff upheavals and a media revolution

It wasn't a dream to run the company, it was a cunning plan," jokes Tom Moloney, the newly appointed chief executive of Emap whose plan has been a long time in the execution.

He has been working at the media company since 1981, when Emap was a small regional newspaper and trade magazine business in Peterborough. The boss at the time, David Arculus, was so impressed with Moloney that he bought an obscure computer trade publication he worked on, just to get him on the staff. "He was the most talented person I'd ever met," Arculus said recently.

Moloney has gradually worked his way up to the top, joining the board in the mid-1990s. He has been chief operating officer for about 18 months, keeping tabs on the day-to-day operations. Now he'll have the job of dealing with City investors and formulating the group's strategy. "I'm very excited. I'm delighted to have the challenge of running Emap," he enthuses.

And he seems to have beaten off strong competition to land the post. His rivals were rumoured to be NTL's former chief executive, Stephen Carter, and United Business Media operations chief Malcolm Wall.

Industry gossips suggest the sooner-than expected appointment of Mo- loney was partly due to nerves that he would jump ship to arch-rival IPC, where the post of chief executive recently became vacant after Sly Bailey left for Trinity Mirror.

It has certainly become a custom for Emap executives to move to bitter rivals. Kevin Hand, the former chief executive who was unpopular with shareholders, went over to Hachette last year. The French company recently pulled the rug out from under Emap's feet when it withdrew from a joint venture to publish Elle and Red in the UK, and took it all in-house. Five years ago, Arculus went over to IPC after numerous rows in the 1990s about management succession.

Whatever the reason for Moloney's promotion, it was popular with analysts. The general sentiment is that he will be a steady hand on the tiller, steering the company through the current advertising recession and steadily growing successful brands like FHM.

He also needs to hold on to his experienced colleagues. Robin Miller, who has been in one of the top two jobs at the company since 1985, will leave in a matter of weeks. He is credited with transforming Emap from a regional newspaper publisher into a leader in consumer magazines and trendy broadcast businesses – on top of its business publications – and his presence will be missed.

The last thing shareholders want is any radical moves, after Emap's disastrous foray abroad. It overpaid for a publishing company in the US and had to sell it off at a lower price last year, losing £127m in the process.

Moloney was in charge of running the operation in the US. He points out that the biggest mistake was doing the deal in the first place, for which he takes some responsibility as he was a junior board member at the time. "Most of the mistakes were in the due diligence," he admits. "Perhaps we've come out a bit wiser about what's involved. It is not an experience I would like to repeat."

He says his appointment is a vindication of the current strategy – to grow organically, with new title launches and small acquisitions to boost sales growth. The progress of Closer, a new celebrity title not dissimilar to Emap's highly successful gossip and entertainment magazine, Heat, will be closely watched.

Moloney has experience of new launches as he was in charge of the consumer division when Heat came out. And that experience will be needed. Emap has had to deal with a number of departures at its consumer magazines, with editors in and out of the revolving doors at Q, Smash Hits and FHM.

David Hepworth, who ran the launches of titles like Mojo, More! and Heat, left last year to start a publishing company called Development Hell, along with another key executive, Jerry Perkins. Several valued Emap employees, such as former Smash Hits editor Mark Ellen, have left the established company for fire and brimstone.

"You don't want to lose staff who have a track record of launching successful titles. Then again, you probably don't want to be still with too many old fogeys who can't connect with the next generation of magazine buyers," says Anthony de Larrinaga, media analyst at SG Securities. "Whether Emap is replacing them with new young talent, we will have to see how successful the new titles are."

Moloney dismisses gossip that Closer is not selling as well as expected and is cannibalising sales of sister title Heat. Official ABC statistics will show the true picture when the half-yearly figures come out next month, but Moloney admits that more work is required to differentiate the two magazines. "The worst thing would for it to become more like Heat," he admits. "Closer is five months old. It will take time to work, but so far so good."

Emap has a wide range of glamorous titles, as well as radio stations like Kiss and Magic, and some successful musical TV channels. But it also has rather less groovy publications such as Plastics and Rubber Weekly and Construction News. The diverse range of businesses is one of the challenges for Moloney, but analysts believe his long experience of Emap makes him the best man for the job. "You have got to understand the logic of the cross-media brands, or you could screw up the business quite quickly," says Johnathan Barrett, a media analyst at Teather & Greenwood.

"Because there are so many different divisions, a new man could make mistakes or find it difficult to manage the business in a way that maximises its potential."

Nevertheless, some observers still believe that Emap's diverse publishing empire is due for a shake-up. "I can't see that Nursing Times is leveraging much value from Kiss FM, or Heat, or Construction News," says de Larrinaga.

Mr Barrett agrees. "I don't think it can be broken up, but there is probably a case for splitting the business division from the consumer," he says. "But the consumer brands do have synergy."

Other City sources suggest that the radio stations would be better off on their own or in a larger radio company's stable. Moloney has dampened speculation that the ambitious head of Emap's broadcasting division, Tim Schoonmaker, will be allowed to leave with the radio businesses he set up.

"The most important thing is the quality of the team," he says. "We are going to try to keep the team together."

A big question is whether the company will be the hound or the fox in the expected media shake-up after the Communications Bill passes through Parliament. Tight restrictions on who can own radio, TV and the press are to be dropped. Tally ho is expected to be called in July, when it is hoped the legislation will receive royal assent.

Corporate financiers are rubbing their hands at the prospect of the lucrative fees from merger and acquisition advisory work, as it is hoped media businesses will club together across the UK.

As Emap is a major media company in the UK, it could take the opportunity to be the acquirer. Moloney says he has more than £400m of bank debt to use for acquisitions if Emap chooses to be the hunter and not the hunted.

However, the company's embarrassing foray into North America is sure to remind Moloney that over-eager changes in strategy are often baloney.