[1] While at the Wall Street Journal, he had developed the idea of a Texas Monthly-style business magazine for the Southeast United States.
[11] In 1989, Huey convinced the reclusive Walmart founder Sam Walton to give a rare interview to Fortune Magazine.
Less than a year later, Huey became editor , appointed by his former Wall Street Journal boss Norman Pearlstine, who had become editor in chief of Time Inc.[4] Huey was credited by media journalists such as Tony Case[15] Lori Robertson[11] and Kurt Andersen with turning around Fortune, making it "newsier, tougher, sexier, funnier, excellent", according to Anderson, writing in New York (magazine).
[4] Replacing journalist Walter Isaacson, who left to head CNN, Huey was promoted to editorial director of Time Inc. later in 2001.
Editor-in-chief Pearlstine stepped back to larger strategic matters and gave Huey editorial control over Time, Sports Illustrated, the Fortune Group, and with another editor, the lifestyle titles, including People, InStyle and Real Simple.
[16][17] He took the top editorial job at Time Inc. in 2006, becoming the company's sixth editor in chief since it was founded,[2][6] with oversight of 3500 journalists.
[18] As editor-in-chief, he created the CNNMoney website with Turner Broadcasting System, combining editorial content from CNN, Fortune and Money.
"[6] After the company was sold to the Meredith Corporation in 2017 for $2.8 billion,[21] the Columbia Journalism Review reported that Huey tweeted "R.I.P.
[23][24] The oral history project included interviews with 61 media and technology leaders about disruption in the news business.
[25] In 2013, Huey received the Gerald Loeb Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
[26] Huey served as member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the advisory board of the Poynter Institute[8] and the Peabody Awards.