The board of directors of The E.W. Scripps Company has approved a new contract for its President/CEO, a sign that it is satisfied with the company’s direction and growth track as it ignores a hostile takeover attempt by Sinclair Inc.
With a new agreement now in place, Adam Symson will remain in the publicly traded company’s top position through December 31, 2029. Symson’s signing of the pact succeeds a five-year contract that was set to expire at the end of 2027.
Symson, who will comment on Scripps’ Q4 2025 financial results in a conference call for investors and analysts on Thursday morning (2/26), has served as President/CEO since August 2017. Under his leadership, Scripps took an aggressive step into expansion of its asset portfolio, succeeding Rich Boehne with moves that some have questioned, pointing to fiscal instability at the company in recent years. This includes the shift of company veteran Brian Lawlor from running the heritage TV stations Scripps owns to overseeing Scripps Sports, which has proved fruitful, and the 2021 acquisition of ION Network, which came at a $2.65 billion price tag. That transaction saw the ION merge with the former Katz Networks to create Scripps Networks.
Scripps points to growth of Scripps Networks in the connected TV sphere. Indeed, free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels are a growing area for which Scripps intends to gain ad revenue. Here, one can find Scripps News, the one-time MVPD-distributed Newsy brand that was renamed and turned into a digital multicast network — only to find advertisers were adverse to placing their messages next to hard news reporting.
Meanwhile, one brand acquired with the intention of creating a strong diginet is no longer in the Scripps family. After a careful strategic review, Scripps moved forward with the recent sale of Court TV to a multiplatform true crime and legal content studio created and led by Dan Abrams that is now owned by media creator holding company Jellysmack.
Meanwhile, executive leadership shifts saw the exit of Lisa Knutson as Chief Operating Officer at the close of 2024 and a wholesale restructuring of the local-level management and newsroom operations at many of its broadcast stations. In San Luis Obispo, Calif., Ed Chapuis departed as VP/GM as his duties were given to a Station Manager; veteran talent including meteorologist Dave Hovde and more experienced reporters moved on, yielding a newscast fueled by journalists fresh out of school.
Under pressure to squash a Sinclair merger as Scripps’ C-Suite navigated through the challenges, the company responded to the liking of shareholders. After a $1.54 close on November 6, 2025, “SSP” has more than doubled its stock price. This led Scripps on February 11 to unveil a “transformation plan” under Symson’s leadership that is intended to grow annualized enterprise EBITDA by $125 million-$150 million by 2028 through growth initiatives, technology including AI and automation and operating efficiencies.
In that announcement, Symson said the transformation plan was a proactive move to best position the company to compete in the changing media industry. Scripps shareholders approve: just before 11am Eastern on Wednesday (2/25) was valued at $3.51.
“Adam has led this company through a challenging broadcast industry landscape by repeatedly identifying new opportunities to position it for success,” said Scripps Board Chair Kim Williams. “He has a bold vision for the role the company can play in our democracy by connecting its communities and audiences through their common interests and passions while at the same time creating business value. He is widely respected in the industry for his advocacy of the First Amendment, and he fosters a mission-based and performance-focused culture. In extending his contract, the board wanted to ensure Adam would remain at the helm to steer the company through the completion of its EBITDA improvement plan and the transformation and growth initiatives that will propel it into the next era of its long and venerable history.”
Williams said the board and company’s strategies for executive pay “place a strong emphasis on variable compensation in order to align management’s interest with those of its shareholders.”
A SEC filing with details of Symson’s new employment agreement is forthcoming.
Symson joined Scripps as an investigative producer at KNXV-TV in Phoenix in 2002. He also has served as Chief Operating officer; Chief Digital Officer; Head of Operations, Content and Revenue for the TV division’s interactive businesses; and Director of Content and Marketing for the Scripps interactive media division — spun off into Scripps Networks Interactive in 2008.
