Publishers Weekly is picking up on a New York Times article, both of which are following up rumors that had been circulating at last month’s London Book Fair. Word on the street is that Random House CEO Peter W. Olson may soon be forced to take early retirement. Olson has been at the helm of the company since 1998, but the senior executives at Bertelsmann (Random House’s German owner)—including new chief executive Hartmut Ostrowski—are concerned with Random House’s recent lagging financial performance. Also, Olson’s own activities have been somewhat curtailed since his six-week illness at the end of last year (he had double pneumonia).
The Times claims to have spoken with two anonymous Bertelsmann executives, who say it’s only the terms and exact timing of Olson’s departure that are still being discussed. Neither Random House nor Bertelsmann will confirm or deny the rumors, but one of the names bruited about to replace Olson is Random House UK head Gail Rebuck. Publishers Lunch, meanwhile, is leaning more toward Joerg Pfuhl, who is the current CEO of Verlagsgruppe Random House in Germany (Pfuhl had been president of Random House in the US until 2002, when Bertelsmann and Random House merged).
Among Random House’s numerous sub-companies and imprints are genre publishers Ballantine, Bantam Dell, Del Rey, Doubleday, Villard, and many others.