PRH CEO Dohle Steps Down

Markus Dohle is stepping down from his position as CEO of Penguin Random House as well as resigning from PRH parent company Bertelsmann’s Executive Board. Dohle took over as CEO of Random House in 2008 and joined the Bertelsmann Executive Board. He was appointed PRH’s first CEO when the publishing group was founded on July 1, 2013. Dohle said,

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. I am very grateful to the Supervisory Board, and especially to its Chairman Christoph Mohn, as well as to my colleagues on the Executive Board for their long-standing trust and support of my decision. I would also like to thank all my colleagues at Bertelsmann, and especially at Penguin Random House, with whom I have had the privilege of working closely and trustfully over the past nearly 30 years. I have led our global book business with great enthusiasm and passion and I am proud of what we have achieved together. Penguin Random House has a great future ahead, and I very much look forward to continuing to serve Bertelsmann in an advisory capacity. Today, I look back with gratitude, and forward with great confidence and joy: for Bertelsmann, for Penguin Random House, and also for me personally.

According to the official announcement, Nihar Malaviya will become interim CEO at Penguin Random House “at the beginning of 2023.” Malaviya, currently president and COO of Penguin Random House US, will report to Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe, and will also be appointed to Bertelsmann’s Group Management Committee. In 2014 Malaviya became responsible for all publishing operations in the US from supply chain to technology & data and client services. Malaviya became president and COO of Penguin Random House US in 2019.

For more information, see our previous reports on the merger and the official Bertelsmann announcement.

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