Sauerberg, who will also retain his president title, will officially transition into the role in January.

S. I. Newhouse Jr., the current chairman, will become chairman emeritus.

Sauerberg joined Condé Nast in 2005 as executive vice president of consumer marketing. Before then, he was chief operating officer at Fairchild Publications which was owned by Advance and recently sold to Penske Media.When Sauerberg was promoted to the president role in 2010, he was tasked with moving Condé Nast into digital opportunities with a more purposeful strategic focus.

Screen-Shot-2013-07-08-at-9.15.53-AMAt which time, Townsend was managing an executive shuffle. David Carey had just left to become president at Hearst Magazines, COO John Bellando was named CFO and Lou Cona became CMO.

Last summer, Bellando and editorial director Thomas Wallace both left the company, David Geithner was brought on as the new CFO, and Sauerberg took over “all revenue generating activities”—a major expansion of his role.

Digital audience shot up from US$17.2 million to US$87.3 million and digital revenues have doubled in the last five years, according to Condé Nast figures.

Sauerberg hopes digital initiatives will help spur growth in the coming years. “We’re digital first, mobile-led, and focused on millennials, whose spending power is increasing quickly,” Sauerberg tells The Wall Street Journal.

He also revealed to WSJ that the company expects to generate more than US$1 billion in overall revenue in 2015, although it will be down, as it was last year. Profit margins will grow because of cost cutting.

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