Penske Media, the large publishing and events company, has quietly shaken up some of the top leadership of South by Southwest, the prominent media and tech festival.
The festival’s president, Hugh Forrest, has left the company, as have 10 others, including its longtime head of communications and its chief technology officer. Penske told 150 festival employees about the changes in a video call on Friday held by Jenny Connelly, Penske Media’s executive vice president, product and technology.
According to statements released by Penske Media, the festival’s board elected Ms. Connelly to lead the organization as “director in charge.” “When Hugh was told he wasn’t going to get the C.E.O. role at SXSW, and would be reporting to her, Hugh made the decision to leave SXSW,” said the statement.
But according to a statement released by Mr. Forrest, the decision wasn’t voluntary.
“Leaving SXSW was definitely not my decision,” Mr. Forrest wrote in a statement. “I put my heart and soul into this event for more than 35 years — and I was looking forward to leading several more editions. To this end, I will be rooting big time for the Austin team going forward. The city, the country, the world needs the positive energy SXSW has traditionally provided, needs it now more than ever.”
SXSW, which began as a music festival in Austin, Texas, in 1987, has expanded to a two-week event that now features three tracks of programming: music, film and interactive. Penske, which owns publications like Rolling Stone and The Hollywood Reporter and events like the Golden Globes, first invested in the festival in 2021. At the time, it bought 50 percent of the company with a partner, MRC. The two partners took control of the festival two years ago by buying another 1 percent.
Many of the people laid off in the past week had been with the festival for decades, including Lillian Park, the company’s head of communication, who had been employed by SXSW since 1988. “Farewell SX,” Ms. Park wrote on her LinkedIn profile. “I’m moving to Scotland to hang out with the sheepies.”