In his annual year-end letter, Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle focused on the merger that has created the largest trade publisher in the world. On the bringing together of Penguin and Random House--announced in 2012, and completed on July 1, 2013--Dohle thanked his staff for the “impressive feat” of “combining two great legacies.”
“It is incredible what our company has been able to achieve during these transformative times of our business, and our company,” Dohle said. Indeed, he writes that while “2014 was a time of preparation; 2015, will be one of implementation." He continued: "Most of the process changes we’ve laid the groundwork for will take effect next year. The work ahead will allow us to more fully realize the potential of our new company.”
Dohle’s annual letter to PRH staff was accompanied by a video presentation that looked back over the year of publishing. The video includes clips of such PRH authors as Chimamanda Ngozi Adoiche (Americanah) and National Book Award fiction winner Phil Klay (Redeployment). The video also features a clip of Jacqueline Woodson (Brown Girl Dreaming), National Book Award winner for Young People’s Literature, calling the PRH staff “her blended family” from the NBA podium after receiving her prize.
The video presentation also highlights PRH’s charitable works in support of literacy, including the Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards, which presents New York City high school students with college scholarships.
“You’ve done all this while making sure we have hit every one of our integration targets to date,” Dohle wrote, in praise of the process of merging Penguin and Random House.
He continued: "You’ve given new and established voices an audience and created better ways to connect our authors with readers. You’ve started countless conversations about our books. You’ve been able to positively influence lives around the world with our publishing and, furthermore, with your support of our charitable efforts.”
