Tribune Publishing Co., parent of the Los Angeles Times, has fired Austin Beutner, the civic leader and former Wall Street investment banker who became publisher and chief executive of the newspaper last year.
Tribune CEO Jack Griffin met with Beutner in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning to give him the news.
A Tribune spokesman declined to comment on the firing. Timothy E. Ryan, publisher since 2007 of the Baltimore Sun, a Tribune newspaper, will replace Beutner.
In an interview, Beutner said he was given only a vague explanation for his firing.
“They wanted to go in a different direction,” Beutner said.