Beyond the of course painful individual losses is the stark reality that the post-pandemic New Normal in publishing is nowhere near as rosy a picture as Dohle chose, on auto-pilot and quite detached from reality, to paint at Sharjah.
The headline from PW this past week – “Layoffs Begin at Penguin Random House as Buyout Departures Come into Focus” – says a lot about the reality of US and global publishing today, and stands in stark contrast to the Sharjah presentation by former PRH CEO Markus Dohle just a short while ago.
Per Jim Milliott, Dohle’s successor Nihar Malaviya confirmed long-rumoured “job eliminations” are a reality. The PW post has detail on many of those who opted for the early retirement, and quotes Malaviya’s no doubt genuine sentiments of regret at the job losses.
But beyond the of course painful individual losses is the stark reality that the post-pandemic New Normal in publishing is nowhere near as rosy a picture as Dohle chose, on auto-pilot and quite detached from reality, to paint at Sharjah.
Thank you, Mark.