Penguin Random House CEO Resigns Weeks After Simon & Schuster Deal Was Blocked

“Following the antitrust decision in the U.S. against the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, I have decided—after 15 years as CEO of Random House, which became Penguin Random House—to hand over the next chapter of our global publishing business to new leadership,” Mr. Dohle, 54, said a memo to staff.

Penguin Random House is owned by closely held German media company Bertelsmann SE. Mr. Dohle is also resigning his seat on the Bertelsmann executive board.

Mr. Malaviya is a veteran Penguin Random House staffer, where he is best known for providing market context and data insights for the creative side of the business. He has also built close ties to other publishers through Penguin Random House business.

“As a young boy growing up in India, I regularly walked 45 minutes to our local library and read each and every book in the children’s section,” Mr. Malaviya said in a memo to staffers. He said he has been in the book business since 2001.

Christoph Mohn,

chairman of the Bertelsmann supervisory board, said in a statement that under Mr. Dohle’s leadership, “Our book division more than doubled its revenues and quintupled its profit.”

Bertelsmann in November 2020 agreed to buy Simon & Schuster from Paramount Global for roughly $2.2 billion. At the time, Mr. Dohle said he was confident that regulators would give their approval because the merger wouldn’t raise competition concerns. “There have been a lot of new successful entrants in the market,” he said.

Instead, the Justice Department in November 2021 filed suit to block the merger, arguing it was anticompetitive.

“By reducing author pay, this merger would make it harder for authors to earn a living by writing books, which would, in turn, lead to a reduction in the quantity and variety of books published,” the lawsuit alleged.

Several days after the trial opened Aug. 1, Mr. Dohle testified that the merger would benefit consumers and authors. He also said that Penguin Random House had lost “significant market share” since Random House had merged with

Pearson

PSO 1.28%

PLC’s Penguin Group in 2013 and that he was “honestly unhappy with our revenue and market share development.”

On Oct. 31, U.S. District Judge

Florence Pan

agreed with the Justice Department’s arguments and blocked the merger. Penguin Random House said it intended to file an expedited appeal, but in order to do so it needed the support of

Paramount Global.

PARA 5.72%

Instead, Paramount Global said in a filing that it had terminated its agreement with Penguin Random House and would seek a $200 million termination fee.

Mr. Dohle’s departure ends an otherwise successful run. A longtime Bertelsmann employee who joined the company in 1994, Mr. Dohle arrived in the U.S. in 2008 to head Random House, the publisher of such bestselling authors as

Dan Brown

and

John Grisham.

He ousted Random House staffers whom he didn’t see as team players, while promoting women to core management posts.

Under Mr. Dohle’s watch, Random House was the only major publisher not to be involved in the antitrust suit filed in April 2012 by the Justice Department against

Apple Inc.

and five major publishers that focused on ebook price-fixing allegations.

Instead, Mr. Dohle built stronger ties with

Amazon.com Inc.

Later, as other publishers hesitated to invest in warehouse and distribution facilities because of the growth of digital reading, Mr. Dohle upgraded Penguin Random House’s facilities.

In October 2012, Bertelsmann’s management team agreed to buy a majority stake in Pearson PLC’s Penguin Group.

The successful merger of those two businesses under Mr. Dohle’s watch appeared to serve as a template for Penguin Random House’s proposed acquisition of Simon & Schuster.

Write to Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at [email protected]

“Following the antitrust decision in the U.S. against the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, I have decided—after 15 years as CEO of Random House, which became Penguin Random House—to hand over the next chapter of our global publishing business to new leadership,” Mr. Dohle, 54, said a memo to staff.

Penguin Random House is owned by closely held German media company Bertelsmann SE. Mr. Dohle is also resigning his seat on the Bertelsmann executive board.

Mr. Malaviya is a veteran Penguin Random House staffer, where he is best known for providing market context and data insights for the creative side of the business. He has also built close ties to other publishers through Penguin Random House business.

“As a young boy growing up in India, I regularly walked 45 minutes to our local library and read each and every book in the children’s section,” Mr. Malaviya said in a memo to staffers. He said he has been in the book business since 2001.

Christoph Mohn,

chairman of the Bertelsmann supervisory board, said in a statement that under Mr. Dohle’s leadership, “Our book division more than doubled its revenues and quintupled its profit.”

Bertelsmann in November 2020 agreed to buy Simon & Schuster from Paramount Global for roughly $2.2 billion. At the time, Mr. Dohle said he was confident that regulators would give their approval because the merger wouldn’t raise competition concerns. “There have been a lot of new successful entrants in the market,” he said.

Instead, the Justice Department in November 2021 filed suit to block the merger, arguing it was anticompetitive.

“By reducing author pay, this merger would make it harder for authors to earn a living by writing books, which would, in turn, lead to a reduction in the quantity and variety of books published,” the lawsuit alleged.

Several days after the trial opened Aug. 1, Mr. Dohle testified that the merger would benefit consumers and authors. He also said that Penguin Random House had lost “significant market share” since Random House had merged with

Pearson

PSO 1.28%

PLC’s Penguin Group in 2013 and that he was “honestly unhappy with our revenue and market share development.”

On Oct. 31, U.S. District Judge

Florence Pan

agreed with the Justice Department’s arguments and blocked the merger. Penguin Random House said it intended to file an expedited appeal, but in order to do so it needed the support of

Paramount Global.

PARA 5.72%

Instead, Paramount Global said in a filing that it had terminated its agreement with Penguin Random House and would seek a $200 million termination fee.

Mr. Dohle’s departure ends an otherwise successful run. A longtime Bertelsmann employee who joined the company in 1994, Mr. Dohle arrived in the U.S. in 2008 to head Random House, the publisher of such bestselling authors as

Dan Brown

and

John Grisham.

He ousted Random House staffers whom he didn’t see as team players, while promoting women to core management posts.

Under Mr. Dohle’s watch, Random House was the only major publisher not to be involved in the antitrust suit filed in April 2012 by the Justice Department against

Apple Inc.

and five major publishers that focused on ebook price-fixing allegations.

Instead, Mr. Dohle built stronger ties with

Amazon.com Inc.

Later, as other publishers hesitated to invest in warehouse and distribution facilities because of the growth of digital reading, Mr. Dohle upgraded Penguin Random House’s facilities.

In October 2012, Bertelsmann’s management team agreed to buy a majority stake in Pearson PLC’s Penguin Group.

The successful merger of those two businesses under Mr. Dohle’s watch appeared to serve as a template for Penguin Random House’s proposed acquisition of Simon & Schuster.

Write to Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at [email protected]