[caption id="attachment_71334" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Denis O'Brien. "]
Gavin O'Reilly stepped down as chief executive of Independent News & Media last week, ending 39 years of direct control by his family of Ireland's largest media group.
He will be succeeded by Vincent Crowley, INM's chief operating officer, in what the company described as "compromise agreement" approved unanimously by the board. Details of the agreement were not disclosed.
The move, according to an Irish Times report, follows weeks of speculation that INM's largest shareholder, Denis O'Brien, who owns 22 percent of the business, would seek to have Mr. O'Reilly removed from his post at the company's annual meeting in early June.
In 2009, Mr. O'Brien had said that Mr. O'Reilly was "incapable" of running the company and six months ago, he called for "a radical overhaul" of the company's board.
Shareholders have been disgruntled by a nearly 58 percent fall in INM shares in the past year, the Times reported.
The Irish Independent reported: "Gavin O'Reilly's decision to leave comes after years of boardroom conflict with Denis O'Brien. Mr. O'Brien, who is INM's biggest shareholder, has been a strident critic of the company's strategy. The O'Reilly family, which has dominated the company since the early 1970s, has a 13 percent stake."
