Random House CEO Announces Restructuring of Crown Publishing Group
In a memo to employees, Random House Chairman and CEO Markus Dohle announced that the company would be "splitting off the current Crown Publishing Group into separately structured and distinct groups: one comprised of the Crown trade-publishing imprints; the other with the Random House Audio Group and the Random House Information Group."
Dohle also announced (and issues separate memos outlining) that Jenny Frost, president and publisher of the Crown Publishing Group, is leaving Random House Inc., effective immediately, and that Maya Mavjee has been appointed president and publisher of the newly restructured Crown Publishing Group effective Jan. 1, 2010. Mavjee will report directly to Dohle. According to the memo, she will "relocate to New York from Toronto, where she is presently Executive Publisher, DouPublishing Group, and Executive Vice President, Random House of Canada Limited."
Here is the memo from Markus Dohle regarding Crown's restructuring in its entirety:
December 8, 2009
TO EVERYONE AT RANDOM HOUSE NORTH AMERICA
Today we are announcing an organizational change for the Crown Publishing Group, which has been our largest and most diverse publishing division.
Since 2002, the Crown Publishing Group has consisted of its hardcover and trade paperback fiction and nonfiction general interest, business, cookbook, lifestyle and craft imprints; the Random House Information Group; and the Random House Audio Publishing Group, all unified under one leader. In recent years it has added imprints to its portfolio through organic growth (Crown Forum); acquisition (Watson-Guptill
Publications, Ten Speed Press); last year's restructuring (Broadway, Broadway Business, Doubleday Business, Doubleday Religion, WaterBrook Multnomah); and strategic partnership (Sylvan Learning Center product line). The division has evolved as an aggregation of publishing programs with different business models and each with its own set of publishing priorities and strategic challenges.
After an extensive review, we believe that both our overall publishing interests and those of our respective imprints, authors, and our colleagues, will now be best served by splitting off the current Crown Publishing Group into separately structured and distinct groups: one comprised of the Crown trade-publishing imprints; the other with the Random House Audio Group and the Random House Information Group.
