Kirdis Postelle Lined Up to Head L.A. Reid's New Venture Hitco: Sources

Former Epic Records chairman/CEO Antonio “L.A.” Reid’s rumored industry return appears to be imminent. Sources tell Billboard that Reid will be launching a new music and publishing company called Hitco, with offices in Los Angeles and Atlanta. Kirdis Postelle, another veteran music executive, is likely to help him run the new company, sources say.

Reid’s association with Hitco actually dates back to 1996, when he established the Hitco Publishing Group as a joint venture with Windswept Music. The company’s signings at the time included Beyoncé, Sean Garrett and Kevin “Shek’spere” Briggs.

Postelle is the former general manager and 17-year veteran of Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment label. She joined the Capitol Music Group in 2013 as senior vp of marketing, then headed to Warner Bros. Records in 2015 as senior vp. Postelle began her music industry career in 1992, working for Reid's LaFace Records in its artist development office.

Reid’s background includes tenures as chairman of Island Def Jam Music Group, president/CEO of Arista and co-founder of LaFace Records. He exited Epic Records last May following a sexual harassment claim by a former assistant; Sony settled with the assistant this summer, sources tell Billboard. Reid's impending launch of Hitco would be his first public moves in the music business since leaving Epic, a period which saw the rise of the #MeToo Movement that has led to a reckoning across a spectrum of industries about the prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace. His return will test whether someone dismissed in the wake of sexual harassment allegations can make a comeback.

Billboard has reached out to a rep for Reid and Postelle for comment.