Nihar Malaviya named as permanent CEO of Penguin Random House

NEW YORK (AP) — Nihar Malaviya has been named as permanent CEO of Penguin Random House, nine months after he was appointed the interim chief executive.

Malaviya succeeded Markus Dohle, who departed weeks after a federal judge struck down Penguin Random House’s attempted merger with Simon & Schuster, a deal Dohle had pushed for. Penguin Random House, the world’s largest trade publisher, has been undergoing a company-wide reorganization in 2023, with numerous senior editors either laid off or departing under a voluntary retirement plan.

Bertelsmann, the German media conglomerate, has owned Random House since 1998. Random House and Penguin merged in 2013.

“He has transformed the structures at Penguin Random House so that the publishers and publishing groups can work more creatively and entrepreneurially. I am confident that he will continue to develop the Group with great vigor,” Bertelsmann Chairman and CEO Thomas Rabe said in a statement Monday.

Malaviya, 48, joined Bertelsmann in 2001, and had served in a variety of positions before becoming CEO. He was most recently COO and president of Penguin Random House in the U.S.