Christian Jünger has been named CEO of Penguin Random House’s German publishing group, Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe. Jünger has been managing director of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group’s Rowohlt Verlag division since 2021, and will join PRH Verslagsgruppe on October 1. He will report to PRH global CEO Nihar Malaviya.
In his letter to employees announcing Jünger’s appointment, Malaviya called him “ideally suited” to head the company, citing not only his publishing experience at Holtzbrinck and Bertelsmann, where he began his career, but his understanding of the retail side of the business during his time as head of vendor management at Amazon.
The position of a fulltime CEO at PRH Verlagsgruppe has been vacant since Thomas Rathnow stepped down, in April, after previously withdrawing from his duties for personal reasons. The group is currently managed on an interim basis by Britta Egetemeier and Thomas Pichler.
PRH Verlagsgruppe is Germany’s largest publisher, and its operating groups include Blanvalet, Goldmann, Heyne, and Penguin. Germany accounted for about 7% of PRH’s worldwide revenue in 2023.
