Canoe sinks into Sun Media; CEO out, Peladeau now runs the whole show

Quebecor Media is rolling its Canoe interactive media division under Sun Media and putting its internet and newspaper operations under one management team, headed by Quebecor Media President and Chief Executive Officer Pierre Karl Peladeau.

"The current reality dictates that we must always be reinventing ourselves, and that's exactly what we're doing today. The integration of Canoe into Sun Media will optimize the strategic alignment and efficiency of the operations by providing strong, unified leadership and will accelerate our multimedia evolution, in particular by eliminating organizational silos that have become obsolete in the multi-platform era," said Quebecor Media President and Chief Executive Officer Pierre Karl Peladeau in a press release.

The statement said that the Canoe.ca brand and portal, as well as the jobboom.com, micasa.ca, autonet.ca, espacecanoe.ca, classifiedextra.ca, canoe.tv, canoeklix.ca and reseaucontact.com brands, will remain in place and the Canoe team will continue to support the various Internet initiatives of Quebecor Media's subsidiaries.

Peladeau, who will continue to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of Sun Media. Replaced is Bruno Leclaire, who has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Canoe and Vice-President, Interactive Media Division of Quebecor Media. Peladeau said that he hoped to find another role for Leclaire in a few months.

"Today, we are combining the strengths of two industry leaders. Pooling their assets, expertise and energy can only result in a winning combination for our customers," concluded Mr. Peladeau.

Quebecor Media Inc. is engaged in magazine publishing through TVA Publishing Inc. and book publishing through the Quebecor Media Book Group. Quebecor Media is a subsidiary of Quebecor Inc. Its Videotron Ltd. subsidiary is the largest cable operator in Quebec and a major internet service and telephone provider. Sun Media is Canada's largest publisher of newspapers. Through TVA Group Inc., it operates the largest French-language over-the-air television network in Quebec, a number of specialty channels and the English-language over-the-air station Sun TV.