Current evp and publisher of Perseus Books Susan Weinberg will take over as publisher of the Workman Publishing group on January 1, after Dan Reynolds retires. The publishers of Workman Adult and Aristan, Workman Calendars, Algonquin, Storey, and Timber Press will all report to Weinberg, along with marketing and publicity, and the group creative director. Weinberg says in the announcement, “The spirit of independent publishing at Workman is wonderfully familiar to me from my years at Perseus. I’m immensely proud of the contributions of the Perseus publishers and their teams to HBG and am excited and energized as I shift my […]
Personnel
Amazon Announces Layoffs in Books, Devices
Amazon ceo Andy Jassy told employees on Thursday that the company would “eliminate a number of positions” in the Devices and Books divisions. In a memo to staff, he said that this year’s operating planning review “is more difficult due to the fact that the economy remains in a challenging spot and we’ve hired rapidly the last several years.” They have not yet announced which roles have been cut or how many, or how the changes will affect the functioning of the Books division. (Unlike Books, Devices has been a drag on the company, reportedly losing over $5 billion a […]
People: McAveney Named CEO of Abrams As Jacobs Moves to Executive Chair, McCarthy Joins Open Road
Abrams has hired Mary McAveney as president and CEO, taking over on November 28 as the company’s first-ever female chief executive. Currently chief revenue officer and chief marketing officer at Open Road, McAveney first worked for Abrams in 1992 on the marketing and sales team, and has held positions at Simon & Schuster, Zondervan, and HarperCollins. She succeeds Michael Jacobs, who will step down after running the company for 19 years. Jacobs will take the role of executive chair of the board at Abrams and will remain on the board of Abrams & Chronicle Books in the UK. He will […]
PRH Acquires Remaining Stake in PRH Grupo Editorial Portugal
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial announced Friday it has agreed to purchase the remaining minority stake of 15.6% of PRH Grupo Editorial Portugal from Manuel de Freitas and his family. De Freitas had retained that share when selling the 20|20 Editora group to PRH in 2021. With that transaction, de Freitas leaves the company, where he served as general director. Editorial continues to be run by Clara Capitão, with Pedro Veiga Ferreira, as director of financial, logistics and systems director, both reporting to Patxi Beascoa.
Callisto Slashes Workforce Again, Continues With Modest Crew
Three months after Callisto Media laid off 35 percent of its staff, the company instituted another deep round of cuts Monday—this time approximately 200 positions, or around 70 percent of its workforce—in all departments. An estimated 60 employees remain in the book-making departments (editorial, marketing, design, etc.). Access to internal systems, other than email, was reportedly turned off this weekend for the employees who would be laid off, and their emails were turned off at 5 PM Eastern on Monday. A press release issued Tuesday says that Callisto “today announced that it will immediately restructure its operations to focus on […]
HarperCollins Institutes Layoffs, Hiring Freeze due to “Cost Pressures”
HarperCollins has eliminated positions and paused hiring due to financial pressures, the company confirmed to PL on Thursday. They shared the following statement: “The business is facing continued cost pressures, including price increases related to printing, production, freight and distribution, and we are taking decisive steps to operate as efficiently as possible. As part of this process, we have made some difficult decisions and a small number of positions have been eliminated as teams restructure.” In a memo to staff, ceo Brian Murray wrote, “For the past several years we have been operating in a state of constant change–shifting resources […]