December 9, 2022, 11:27am
Yes, it’s true, Markus Dohle is leaving his position as CEO of Penguin Random House, in what is clear fallout from the failed attempt to acquire Simon & Schuster. Dohle, who pushed hard for the attempted merger, said in his letter of resignation that:
Following the antitrust decision in the U.S. against the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, I have decided, after nearly 15 years on the Executive Board of Bertelsmann and at the helm of our global publishing business, to hand over the next chapter of Penguin Random House to new leadership.
Dohle was at the helm when Random House merged with Penguin in 2013, and subsequently oversaw massive corporate expansion and revenue growth (though I guess we can blame him for not calling the new company Random Penguin House, which still seems like a missed opportunity).
Dohle will be succeeded in an interim basis by Nihar Malaviya, the current president and COO of PRH.