Global publishing giant Condé Nast has named Antonious Porch as its next general counsel, replacing William Bowes who left the company earlier in the year.

Porch is joining from music streaming platform SoundCloud where he is currently GC and chief diversity officer. At Condé Nast he will be responsible for all legal, business affairs, policy and compliance matters. He will also serve as corporate secretary when he takes up the role in February next year.

New York-based Condé Nast publishes magazines including Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, among other titles.

Nick Hotchkin, chief financial officer at Condé Nast, said: “We are delighted to welcome Antonious to our team as general counsel. He has an extensive and impressive track record navigating the legal complexities of today’s media industry, including copyright and intellectual property, M&A, compliance, regulatory and corporate matters, licensing and data privacy. His leadership and expertise will provide invaluable counsel on our strategy as we expand our content production and publishing across all platforms.” 

Porch joins after almost seven years at SoundCloud, having joined as GC in February 2018 from music discovery app Shazam, where he helped guide its sale to Apple. He also had in-house spells at Viacom, including as deputy GC of its children's TV network Nickelodeon, and at animation studio Classic Media as director for business and legal affairs. Prior to that he worked in private practice, first at Latham & Watkins and then Morrison Foerster.

Porch said: “I am excited to join Condé as we continue to grow and evolve the world’s most iconic brands, creating new opportunities to entertain, inspire and empower audiences globally.”

Bowes, meantime, departed after roughly five years as GC, having joined from the Publishers Association where he spent 17 months as GC and director of policy. His departure followed the exit of chief diversity officer Yashica Olden and chief revenue officer Pam Drucker Mann, according to Puck.

In other media moves, back in July Fox News Media hired Gibson Dunn partner Katherine Moran Meeks to head up its legal team, replacing Bernard Gugar. That followed Fox Corporation GC Jeff Taylor quitting to join ExxonMobil in June.