The departure of the two Tribune Co. key players comes amid the largest advertising revenue decline in history, as well as sales and huge cutbacks across Tribune Co. newspapers.

Hiller had served as the Times publisher for 21 months, and had been with the Tribune Co. for 20 years, and no successor has yet been named, the Chicago Tribune reported.

“Sam's the boss and he gets to pick his own quarterback,” Hiller said of Tribune Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Sam Zell in a statement e-mailed to Times staff, the LA Times reported.

Gerould W. Kern, who has been vice president of editorial at Tribune Publishing since 2003, has been named Lipinski's successor.

The “position is not the fit it once was,” Lipinski said, according to the Chicago Tribune.

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