books
Meet
Markus Dohle, the new CEO of
Random House. His previous job was retooling Bertelsmann AG's printing plants to repair mobile phones, generate billing statements and warehouse pills. In case that's not unglamorous enough on its own, note that Dohle is following in the footsteps of
Peter Olson, who while considered a
tough-talking bean counter was also a former lawyer and banker fluent in three languages, not to mention a voracious reader. Dohle seems to want to move beyond the rarefied club of literary publishing into more practical, money-making endeavors; according to the
Wall Street Journal, which broke news of his appointment this morning citing anonymous sources, he is interested in expanding education services, among other things. Having turned Bertelsmann's publishing division into a "growth engine" and with
no obvious emotional attachment to high-minded writing per se, Dohle should be the ruthless numbers man Olson always fancied himself but could
never actually become. [
WSJ]
Gawker
markus dohle
