Murray Replaces Friedman at Harper
By Sara Nelson -- Publishers Weekly, 6/4/2008 8:36:00 PM
Cell phone l
ines were clogged Wednesday night after Gawker.com posted an item about Jane Friedman stepping down from her much loved position as CEO of HarperCollins worldwide. While Gawker said the news was still a "rumor," Harper issued a release late last night officially announcing that the energetic head of HC was stepping down immediately. She is being replaced by Brian Murray, who last year was appointed president of HC's worldwide operations. Apparently, sources say, Friedman's departure -- which was her own decision, though its origin is unclear -- was scheduled to be announced "in a dignified manner" in a few weeks, but when the news leaked HC made it official.
News of Friedman's decision to step down, unlike the recent departures of Jack Romanos and Peter Olson, which had been muched rumored, came as a complete surprise. Friedman, whose contract is up shortly, was planning to make the announcement around the time of the end of HC's fiscal year June 30, but the leak spoiled those plans.
"My 10 years here have been far and away the most rewarding of my career and so it was not easy to make the decision to step down," Friedman said in an official statement. "During the past decade we have enjoyed tremendous success while expanding our brand online and around the world." "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 profits," said Rupert Murdoch, chairman of parent company News Corp. "I have enjoyed working with her immensely and will miss her."
“I am thrilled to be taking on this new role,” said Murray in a statement. “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.” Murray joined HC in 1997 and held several positions in the general books group until 2001 when he was named to head the Australian subsidiary. He returned to New York in 2004 as group president and was promoted to president of worldwide operations in 2007. Murray has led HC's digital efforts and opened its office in Beijing.
In announcing Murray's appointment, Murdoch called HC "an important business for News Corporation," and said Murray "has demonstrated an impressive track record of growing publishing companies."
Friedman joined HC in 1997 after serving as executive v-p of Random House where she was executive v-p of Knopf and president of Random House Audio Publishing. During Friedman's tenure at HC, the company posted a number of record year. The company had a poor first quarter in fiscal 2008, but had rebounded in the two subsequent periods and expected results to finish close to fiscal 2007.
