Philadelphia Metro publisher out, won't be replaced

Eric Mayberry is out as publisher of the daily newspaper Metro Philadelphia, a free handout that litters Septa stops across the Delaware Valley, after he tried and failed to buy the paper from its parent company, Metro International. He won't be replaced, and the paper will be run from New York in the future, Mayberry tells me.

Mayberry says he's started a new firm, SmartBoy Enterprises LLC, "a media entertainment managing consulting company," which will lobby to help his old employer win a cut of state and city legal ads now reserved for paid papers like the Inquirer. He says he'll also write a column in the company's New York and Philadelphia dailies, subject "to be determined."

Mayberry "is leaving Metro Philadelphia in much better shape than when he arrived," said Metro International president Per Mikael Jensen in the statement Mayberry sent out. The ex-publisher said his company is also "creating a testing service and database of high school athletes," www.premiercombines.com. "I am not really a newspaper executive," Mayberry added in his statement.