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Ann Godoff

peter olson

How 'Best Mommy Of Park Avenue' Secured More Quality Time With Random House Hubby

Peter Olson—widely reported to be stepping down from Random House after a debilitating bout of pneumonia—doesn't get much sympathy in the publishing industry. Here's how the publishing giant's chief executive will be remembered: as a money-minded philistine who's fallen victim to the same financial accountability he tried to instill at Bertelsmann's US book producing factory. But there is one endearing angle to Olson's comeuppance: his departure may have been dictated less by Bertelsmann's Teutonic board members than Olson's formidable wife, Candice. More »

ann godoff

Ann Godoff at Penguin

Little orphan Ann has found a new home: Penguin Putnam. "We hired her for her taste, her editorial acumen and her brilliant work," says Susan Petersen Kennedy, president of Penguin Group USA. ("Not her personality" is presumably implied.)
Ann Godoff finds new home at Penguin Putnam [FT]

ann godoff

Random House president fired

Ann Godoff, president of Bertelsmann's Random House division, was fired Thursday for failing to meet profitability goals and the details are just coming out. Her division generated more best-sellers than any other, but the group's net income of $2 million was $4 million short of CEO Peter Olson's target. It didn't help that Godoff had alienated key executives and had no staunch defenders among the other division heads.
Searching for motives in Random House ouster [NYT]