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Markus Dohle, the 39-year-old head of Bertelsmann's printing unit Arvato Print, is to take over from Peter Olson as chairman and c.e.o. of Random House from the 1st June. The widely predicted news was announced today (20th May) by Bertelsmann chief Hartmut Ostrowski, who described Dohle as an "outstanding entrepreneur" who would "bring his innovative energy to tapping new lines of business for the company".
Ostrowski said Olson was leaving Bertelsmann of his own initiative to pursue an academic career. In a letter to colleagues, Olson said the past 10 years at Random House had been "the best and happiest of my life", but that a period of illness last year had given him cause to re-evaluate his future.
Dohle said he looked forward to the "entrepreneurial challenge" of his new role, describing his goal for Random House as being "for us to join together in identifying new growth opportunities and tap additional potential which we will develop from our core businesses".
Dohle will also succeed Olson on the Bertelsmann Executive Board. However, the reporting line for the Direct Group North America--which includes Bertelsmann's book club operations--will shift from Olson to Bertelsmann's chief financial officer Thomas Rabe. There have been suggestions that Bertelsmann is looking to sell these divisions, which have performed poorly recently.
Dohle will be based in Random House’s world headquarters in New York, where he will be relocating this summer.
In an interview conducted with BeNet, Bertelsmann's intranet site, Ostrowski said: "As successful as Random House already is, the book business urgently needs new impetus for the future, to be able to grow again in view of challenges such as technological advances." Ostrowski said that Dohle would "grant the publishers the same independence and publishing freedom as his predecessors did".
As for being accepted as a foreigner in New York's tough publishing scene Ostrowski added: "At Bertelsmann, executives qualify for a new assignment – especially for such an important one – by their achievements and skills, not by their nationality or birthplace. Markus Dohle will be based in New York, he, his wife and children move there, and he speaks fluent English. Markus has family in the US and he feels very much at home there."
"He is also a big reader, which gives him a rapport with his new book-publishing colleagues," added Ostrowski.