• by Sara Guaglione , August 15, 2016

Christopher Cox has been named executive editor of GQ, six months after he was fired as editor-in-chief of Harper’s Magazine.

In February, just three months after he got the job at Harper’s, president and publisher John MacArthur reportedly fired Cox over “editorial differences,” which may have included a clash over a cover redesign supported by Cox.

MacArthur, who has invested heavily in Harper’s with his personal fortune, is said to be firmly committed to the print edition of the 166-year-old publication and resistant to change.

MacArthur is also known to have a heavy hand in the magazine. In 2010, he abruptly fired editor Rodger Hodge, also reportedly over editorial disagreements. Hodge was succeeded by Ellen Rosenbush, who Cox later replaced in November of last year.

At GQ, Cox will be in charge of editing long-form stories, profiles, essays and investigative pieces, the magazine said Friday.

"I was always a little jealous when I read his award-winning work in Harper’s, and now I'm just glad I don't have to be jealous anymore," GQ editor-in-chief Jim Nelson stated.

Worthy of note, Nelson used to work at Harper’s in the early 1990s, and Cox was a senior editor at GQ at one point.

Cox was most recently freelancing for Esquire and remains an editor-at-large for Orion magazine. Cox joined Harper’s as a senior editor in 2010.