Broadway, Doubleday will be united, as will Bantam and Dell; Carole Baron to depart
The long-anticipated realignment of Random House's adult publishing operations began last week with the announcement that the company is forming four new publishing groups. The two most significant changes involve the formation of the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group and the Bantam Dell Publishing Group. In addition, Anchor Books has joined Vintage in the Knopf Publishing Group to form a new trade paperback unit. Random House has also moved its WaterBrook religious imprint under the new Doubleday Religious Publishing division. WaterBrook's president Dan Rich, who had reported to Doubleday president Stephen Rubin, will now report to Eric Major, who will lead the new Doubleday religious division.
As a result of the restructuring, Rubin has been named president and publisher of Doubleday Broadway and Irwyn Applebaum has been appointed to the same posts at Bantam Dell. Carole Baron, senior v-p and president and publisher of Dell, will be leaving the company effective June 30. The new publishing structure will become operational July 1.
Under the reorganization, Bob Asahina and Bill Thomas will remain editors-in-chief of Broadway and Doubleday, respectively, and both men will report to Rubin, as will Eric Major. Gerald Howard will serve as executive editor for Doubleday Broadway. Random said that Doubleday and Broadway will continue to be editorially independent, with separate editorial departments.
The Bantam Dell Publishing Group will unite the two mass market paperback imprints, Bantam and Dell, under one roof. The new group will continue to publish Bantam hardcovers, Delacorte hardcovers, Dial Press hardcovers, Bantam trade paperbacks, Delta and DTP trade paperbacks plus Island mass market titles.
In the Vintage Anchor Publishing division, the two imprints will retain their separate editorial identities under the direction of Knopf head Sonny Mehta.Random chairman Peter Olson told PW that the company is coming off a successful year and he felt there was an opportunity to build on the company's current strength. The realignment will bring together comparable editorial programs and compatible infrastructures while maintaining the identities of the imprints, he noted.
Further announcements about the plans of the new publishing teams will be made in the weeks ahead, although Olson said that no other major publishing reorganizations at Random are expected for the foreseeable future.A company spokesman said that the restructuring will not necessarily mean a reduction in titles or employees. "There is no corporate mandate to reduce titles or cut staff," the spokesman said, adding that those decisions are being left up to individual publishers.
