The communications department at Random House was working overtime last week, coping with the announcements that the company has reconfigured its Information and Crown Publishing Groups as well as the news that Random employees housed at 201 E. 50th St. will be forced to move to temporary locations next spring.
Under the division realignment, the new Information Group will focus on all of Random House Inc.'s major branded nonfiction imprints. The cornerstone of the Information Group will be the previously independent Fodor's Travel Publications division, whose president and publisher, Bonnie Ammer, has been appointed to the additional post of president of the Information Group. Another addition to the Information Group will be the Living Language imprint, which had been part of Crown. Other imprints within the Information Group will be Random House Reference and Information, the Princeton Review and the puzzles and games line.
According to a Random House memo, a priority for the Information Group will be to enhance consumer awareness of their niche brands through aggressive marketing. In addition, e-commerce and new media initiatives will be a focal point of the Information Group's new orientation.
Leaving the Information Group to become part of Crown will be the general interest imprints Times Books, Sierra Club Books and Discovery Books. No changes in the three imprints' publishing programs are expected. Chip Gibson will continue to run Crown as president and publisher.
The restructuring has resulted in several personnel changes, including the departure of both Peter DeGiglio, publisher of the Princeton Review, and Charles Levine, publisher of the reference unit. Walter Weintz, who had overseen the old Information Group, will work on special nonfiction projects for Peter Olson and Erik Engstrom, chairman and president, respectively, of Random House. Carie Freimuth, who had been v-p and publisher of Times Books, has been named v-p and publisher of Random House adult audio, and will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the unit. She will report to Jenny Frost, who remains president of the audio division as well as head of the company's Diversified Publishing Group.
In a move unrelated to the changes at the Information and Crown Groups, RH shifted its House of Collectibles imprint from the Ballantine Publishing Group to Crown, where it will be a division of Three Rivers Press, Crown's trade paperback line. Linda L wenthal, v-p and editorial director of Three Rivers and Harmony Books, will oversee the House line, while Laura Paczosa will be responsible for acquiring new books and overseeing House's backlist. L wenthal intends to increase the number of titles published under the House imprint, with 18 books already set for 2000.
On the housing front, Advance Publications, owners of Random's E. 50th St. building, have refused to extend the publisher's lease beyond the June 2000 expiration date. Staff members at "Random East" will be taking up temporary quarters in several locations until the new Random House Building is completed in 2002.
The Ballantine Publishing Group as well as the children's media group, IT, human resources and travel departments will move to the Bertelsmann Building at 1540 Broadway early this winter. The remaining staff -- Random trade and the Knopf and Crown Publishing Groups -- will move to buildings at 299 Park Ave. and 280 Park Ave. next spring.
