MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
June 12 – June 19, 2008 Edition
HarperCollins
Undergoes
Restructuring
NEW YORK, NY/6/5/08–After the sudden departure of Jane Friedman as CEO of HarperCollins Publishers last week, and her replacement by Brian Murray as worldwide president and CEO, the publisher has announced a new management structure.
Michael Morrison has been promoted to President and Publisher U.S. General Books and Canada, and Victoria Barnsley has been promoted to CEO and Publisher HCUK and International, overseeing the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa.
Friedman had been with HarperCollins for ten years, and there had been no hint of her departure, even as she presided the previous week over the company’s participation in BookExpoAmerica.
“Michael and Victoria are two of the most creative publishing executives in the industry and I am looking forward to working closely with them to help HarperCollins grow and achieve even greater success,” said Murray. “They both have a rare combination of terrific creative instincts and business acumen. They are ideal partners to help us build HarperCollins into the publisher of choice.”
“I love this company and am excited to work with my colleagues in this new role to further our reputation as the best publisher in town,” said Morrison.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to extend my remit at HC internationally,” said Barnsley. “The rest of the world offers us tremendous growth opportunities and will be an ever more important part of our business. I’ve worked with Brian and Michael for several years and believe that as a team we can take HC to even greater heights.”
Michael Morrison joined HarperCollins in January 1999 as Vice President, Associate Publisher of HarperCollins and later became Executive Vice President, Publisher of Morrow/Avon. Most recently he served as is President and Group Publisher of the HarperMorrow division at HarperCollins Publishers. He was appointed to this position November, 2004.
Victoria Barnsley has been Publisher and Chief Executive of HarperCollins UK since 2000, when her company, Fourth Estate, was purchased by HarperCollins. Barnsley sits on the Worldwide Board of HarperCollins Publishers Inc and is Chair of HarperCollins India Ltd.
About HarperCollins Publishers
HarperCollins, one of the largest English-language publishers in the world, is a subsidiary of News Corporation (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A; ASX: NWS, NWSLV). Headquartered in New York, HarperCollins has publishing groups around the world including the HarperCollins General Books Group, HarperCollins Children’s Books Group, Zondervan, HarperCollins UK, HarperCollins Canada, HarperCollins Australia/New Zealand and HarperCollins India. HarperCollins is a broad-based publisher with strengths in literary and commercial fiction, business books, children’s books, cookbooks, mystery, romance, reference, religious and spiritual books.
Consistently at the forefront of innovation and technological advancement HarperCollins is the first publisher to digitize its content and create a global digital warehouse to protect the rights of its authors, meet consumer demand and generate additional business opportunities. The publisher’s website is located at: http://www.harpercollins.com.
