• Even if Friedman's performance was bad, why not ease her out like Jack Romanos at Simon & Schuster or give her a few weeks like Peter Olson at Random House?
• Why did people in the "highest echelons" at HarperCollins seem to know nothing about Friedman's departure Wednesday night? Why are her "closest friends" still baffled about what happened?
• If Friedman was pushed out for performance reasons, why install her chosen successor and longtime underling as the replacement?

Still, Friedman's replacement Murray sounds a lot like the sort of publisher that's so hot these days: "Mr. Murray is a skilled businessman with a knack for administrative strategy and little interest in the literary aspects of publishing." Perhaps Murdoch, who seems to be the only one who saw this change coming, simply decided he wanted one of those.

[Observer]

Michael Morrison, now president of HarperCollins' North American books division, told the Times Friedman had been talking about moving on from HarperCollins for "several weeks," indicating she either knew what was coming or left of her own volition. He brushed aside a theory, floated by a Gawker source, that Murdoch held some sort of grudge over Friedman's role in the squelching of an OJ Simpson book and the departure of Judith Regan, although the Times said others in the company wondered Thursday about the Regan incident.

But statements by Murray in the Journal hint that money, ultimately, may have been at the root of Friedman's departure, just as it had been for her peer Peter Olson at Random House. Murray said Murdoch assured him News Corp. wasn't looking to sell HarperCollins, but "that he wanted to see new growth." And that is now Murray's top priority:

In the interview, Mr. Murray said that his primary task will be to add revenue growth, the same challenge now facing Markus Dohle, the new CEO of Bertelsmann AG's Random House publishing empire. "We're looking to invest in the business, we're hiring, and we're looking to identify new opportunities," said Mr. Murray. Areas of interest include children's publishing, where Mr. Murray said he expects to make additional investments.

[Times, WSJ]

(Thanks to RavingRabbid and Anthony for the tips.)

Friedman got canned, in my view, for being anti-Regan. Rupert wanted the Simpson book out, and he also was taken in by Ailes, who orchestrated both the anti If I Did It campaign [against the OJ Simpson book] and the anti-Semitism campaign (this is fact), who will soon be shitcanned for the same reasons.

In 29 years at Random House, Friedman rose to become second-in-command after, by her own account, pioneering the modern book tour, including for cookbook author Julia Child. She later promoted authors like Michael Crichton (who would follow her to HarperColins).

Murdoch's News Corp. hired Friedman away from Random House to head HarperCollins in 1997, when the company was struggling. She doubled HarperCollins' profits within a few years, according to a 2007 article in New York magazine by Vanessa Grigoriadis. Friedman is credited with aggressively and creatively promoting a stable of authors that came to include Crichton, Michael Chabon, Doris Lessing and Barbara Kingsolver, but her success was also thanks in no small part to strong performance by Regan and her largely autonomous imprint.

Regan was, by most accounts, even brassier than Friedman, and more confrontational. She became a rival, including for attention and approval from Murdoch. By the time a scandal arose over a Regan-overseen OJ Simpson book in 2006, Friedman had quietly "been waiting to fire Judith," Michael Wolff wrote in Vanity Fair last year. When she finally did so, she checked with Murdoch, but badly fumbled things. Grigoriadis wrote:

Murdoch sat in the VIP section in the balcony above Europe. As it turns out, he didn’t know that Friedman was telling people Regan was fired—because he wasn’t even aware that she had been fired. He certainly hadn’t expected Friedman to fire her that night, before the holiday party. Although a News Corp. spokesperson denies it, some in the company are certain that Friedman misinterpreted their conversation—Murdoch had given his okay to fire her at some undetermined point in the future. But once it had been done, there was no turning back.

It could it very well be that, despite fairly aggressive attempts to radically adapt her company to a new business model, and to expand internationally, Friedman was undone by this or some other instance of coarse communication. This is, after all, the same woman who supposedly scolded workers on Sept. 11, 2001 to report any planned absences Sept. 12.

Or perhaps, in the increasingly tight-fisted publishing business, Friedman was done in by the simple math of a "poor first-quarter performance."

And it's always possible the official line about Friedman's departure being totally voluntary is true, and she's going to enjoy a slightly early retirement.

At least Murdoch had the good sense to replace Friedman with a comforting HarperCollins insider, longtime second-in-command Murray, rather than a terrifying outsider from another background entirely, as at competitor Random House.

HarperCollins press releases follow.

JANE FRIEDMAN RESIGNS AS PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS WORLDWIDE

New York, New York, June 4, 2008 - Jane Friedman, President and Chief Executive Officer of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, today announced she is stepping down after 10 years at the helm of one of the world's largest English-language publishers.

"My 10 years at HarperCollins have been far and away the most rewarding of my career and so it was not easy to make the decision to step down," commented Ms. Friedman. "It has been a great privilege to develop and lead the best and brightest team in the world of publishing as we created and implemented innovative programs which placed HarperCollins at the forefront of the 21st Century publishing world. We have expanded opportunities for our authors to connect with our readers across many different mediums, while also encouraging a new generation to get excited about reading.

"During the past decade, we have enjoyed tremendous success while expanding our brand on-line and around the world. Our accomplishments include: more than doubling the company's profits over the past ten years; launching the Publishing+ program that has made HarperCollins an industry leader in the world of digital publishing; our authors whose excellence was recently recognized with the awarding of two Pulitzer Prizes and the Nobel Prize for Literature in recent months; a company record 25 books on the New York Times best-seller list just last week; and expansion to new markets around the world including India and China.

"I am extremely pleased to be succeeded by Brian Murray, an incredibly talented individual and executive, and a true lover of books, who is the perfect person to lead our team to continued success in the future. I wish Brian and the entire team at HarperCollins the best of luck."

"Jane has been a terrific leader who succeeded in attracting some of the world's most brilliant authors while, at the same time, delivering record breaking profits," Said Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive of News Corporation. "We are enormously grateful for her contributions over the past 10 years and understand her desire to seek new challenges at this point in her career. I have enjoyed working with her immensely and will miss her. We wish her much success."

Ms. Friedman joined HarperCollins in November 1997, overseeing HarperCollins worldwide book publishing including operations in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and India. Under her leadership, the company achieved record revenues as well as countless publishing honors.

Previously, she was Executive Vice President of Random House, Inc., Executive Vice President of the Knopf Publishing Group, Publisher of Vintage Books and Founder and President of Random House Audio Publishing.

Ms. Friedman is Vice-Chair of the Entertainment, Media and Communications Division of the UJA. She serves on the board of the Association of American Publishers, Literacy Partners, Yale University Press, and Poets & Writers, Inc. She is also a member of the American Advisory Committee of the Jerusalem International Book Fair, the Advisory Committee to the MFA program in creative writing at The New School and The Committee of 200.


BRIAN MURRAY NAMED PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS WORLDWIDE

New York, New York, June 4, 2008 - Brian Murray has been promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, following the resignation today of Jane Friedman. Mr. Murray, 41, has been the company's President since July 2007. His appointment is effective immediately.

As President of HarperCollins Worldwide, Mr. Murray led the development of worldwide growth initiatives including digital strategy and investment. He also had direct responsibility for the HarperCollins General Books Group in the U.S. which includes HarperCollins, William Morrow and Collins publishing divisions, as well as oversight of a variety of international operations.

"HarperCollins is an important business for News Corporation and, in his 11-year tenure, Brian has demonstrated an impressive track record of growing publishing companies," commented Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive of News Corporation. "He is ideally suited to work with his colleagues at News Corporation and HarperCollins to achieve even greater success."

"I am thrilled to be taking on this new role," said Mr. Murray. "I am looking forward to working with my colleagues to invest in and grow our publishing businesses around the world at a time when digital technologies are creating new opportunities to bring authors and readers together."

Mr. Murray joined HarperCollins in 1997 and held several positions in the General Books Group until 2001, when he was named Chief Executive Officer of HarperCollins Australia/New Zealand, where he significantly increased both market share and financial performance. In 2004, he returned to HarperCollins in the U.S. as Group President and was promoted to President of HarperCollins Worldwide in July 2007. Mr. Murray has led the company's digital efforts which include the development of HarperCollins digital warehouse, direct to consumer marketing initiatives and the digitization of HarperCollins' backlist. He has also established the company's first office in Beijing and is responsible for its business development in China.

[Observer, WSJ, Times]

The Journal piece mentions this post, but doesn't attribute any sources for the heart of its story — that Friedman is definitely leaving. Needless to say, the paper must have its own sources, it would never run a piece based on a report from us or anyone else, at least without making that clear. It's unusual for the paper to use this sort of blind sourcing.

The Observer's source claims that Friedman left of her own accord, and has been planning to exit for some time. How weird, then, that she made her "I love being CEO" proclamation Saturday. Apparently it was some sort of joke.

A formal announcement is supposedly on the way, according to the Observer:

A post that appeared tonight on Gawker.com cited a rumor saying she had been fired. That rumor has apparently moved Ms. Friedman and News Corp to bump up their official announcement.

We checked around to make sure it wouldn't be a total flop, and it turns out that a good chunk of the Golden Boa Ten are actually planning to attend!

That does not include Harper Collins CEO Jane Friedman, who had no idea what the hell we were talking about when we called. (Hey, she's busy.) New York Times Washington bureau chief Dean Baquet will also not make it.

But! It does include NPR cutie Adam Davidson, Craig's List non-hermit Craig Newmark, New York mag editrix Adam Moss, uberpublicst Ken Sunshine and designer and art director Luke Hayman, who all said they would attend.

And what about Stephen Colbert? Doesn't he go to everything? He must spend a lot of money on sitters.

We hope the winnders are also planning on bringing dollies of some kind, because we just really can't see Craig Newmark staggering home on the crosstown bus with a bronzed accessory under his arm. Adam Moss—well, he's used to that kind of thing.

When it comes to picking books, "Judith doesn't listen to anything or anybody," says brand-identity designer Jeff Stone, who is also the companion of HarperCollins C.E.O. Jane Friedman. "A man has a golden gut. She goes with her golden vagina."

The Devil and Miss Regan [VF]