The rumor that Susan Lyne, who just stepped down as chief of Martha Stewart Living, was having lunch with Time Inc.'s Ann Moore is false. Actually, Moore only emailed Lyne with a lunch date request; it has yet to take place. It was that supposed sighting that only fueled rumors of the media's self-fulfilling prophecy wish: That Lyne would make good on the long-standing rumors she was to take over the top spot at Time Warner's publishing house. But now she may go a different route, according to the latest scenario: Taking the top spot at OWN, Oprah's new television network. No matter that MTV chief Judy McGrath, who is said to be leaving her post, has been fingered as a front-runner for the Oprah gig. (Lyne, of course, is the one-time head of ABC Entertainment, where she was ousted by Bob Iger just before Desperate Housewives, a show she helped groom, became a hit.) So we can either 1) hope for a cat fight between Lyne and McGrath as they battle it out for the lucrative new gig; or 2) just be pleased these middle-aged ladies as still treated as hot commodities in the industry.

Time Inc.'s Ann Moore and exiting Martha Stewart Living chief Susan Lyne are having lunch next week. It's either to meet about Lyne taking over Moore's job, or the most excellent prank on media's chattering classes.

In an article about the departure of Martha Stewart Living CEO Susan Lyne, Slate sneaks in a dig at the competition: "[MSL] is a textbook intersection of two media business lessons that should have been learned in the '90s. One is that just because a content company makes a splash online does not mean that it needs to go public. (Departed TheGlobe.com and limping Salon.com are two other examples of content companies that held IPOs.)"

Nevermind that Slate is owned by the publicly traded Washington Post Company, which is a pure content play propped up by the enormously profitable Kaplan education unit.

News breaks today that Martha Stewart Living chief Susan Lyne is stepping down from the company. Looking at the company's share price during her tenure, which has dropped by more than half, one might assume that her departure isn't a voluntary one. But quite possibly, it was, or at least an amicable decision. That's because Lyne has been rumored to be a possible successor to Time Inc. chief Ann More, whose contract expires in 2010. (Lyne's deal at MSL, where she earned $4.4m last year, expired on Dec. 31, but included a one-year auto-renewal clause if the company didn't notify her that they didn't want to re-up her.) Not only did Lyne keep Stewart's company afloat when its namesake founder headed to prison, but her experience as president of ABC Entertainment, and editor the Village Voice and Premiere, are the type of cross-platform expertise Time Inc. so desperately needs.

GRASS IS GREENER Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia chief Susan Lyne might be looking to move on, with her $4.4 million contract technically expiring yesterday; she stays on with its auto-renew clause. Under her tenure, MSLO shares have seen their $20 valuation halved. Now watch as she goes hunting for a higher-paying gig. [KK]