NY Post Panics over Markhus Dohle and Random House
The NY Post has a bit on Markus Dohle and the stir at Random House:I was thinking about this a lot as I sat through another day of jury duty (these lawyers can't agree on anything). Coming from the printing and production side of things, Dohle signals a shift to the pragmatic. Olsen, while known as a cost-cutter, was still rather swashbuckling. As we're on the brink of a recession (are we still on the brink? haven't we fallen in yet?), it makes a lot of sense for Bertlesmann to focus on systems rather than on hitting a bunch of bestsellers out of the park.Random House is owned by German media giant Bertelsmann, which yesterday said it was dispatching Markus Dohle, an industry outsider with a background in industrial engineering, to take over its American subsidiary.
Dohle was most recently the CEO of Arvato Print, a Bertelsmann unit with 11,500 employees worldwide.
In contrast, Random, the nation's largest trade book publisher, employs about 5,700, and most observers think that number is surely going to be cut.
"People are panicking and saying it couldn't be worse," said one Random House author. "On the face of it, it looks like the guy is a complete production bean counter. It doesn't look hopeful that he'll share the romantic idea of literature and publishing."
Bestsellers aren't going to do it for Random's bottom line anyway - they have bestsellers all the time. Staking your business on that model isn't making sense anymore. It's better to look at tightening back-end systems, looking at innovative ways to market titles, and transitioning to digital workflow - THAT is what will keep you going while the economy's sour, and will put you in a great position when it recovers again. Bertlesmann is being very smart.
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