Penguin Random House editors leaving

Some of publishing’s most celebrated and enduring editors are leaving Penguin Random House after accepting buyout packages.

Longtime editors of such prominent writers as Anne Rice, Lorrie Moore and Nobel laureates Alice Munro and Elie Wiesel are among those stepping down by the end of the year. Multiple publishing officials with knowledge of the buyouts confirmed that departing editors include Vicky Wilson, Jonathan Segal and Ann Close.

“All of us at Penguin Random House greatly respect the life-changing decisions of those U.S. colleagues who have chosen to take the recent companywide Voluntary Separation Offer,” reads a Penguin Random House statement provided Monday to The Associated Press.

The buyouts follow numerous other high-profile changes. Global company CEO Markus Dohle and U.S. CEO Madeline McIntosh both left within months of PRH’s failed attempt to purchase rival publisher Simon & Schuster, a deal struck down last fall by a federal judge.

HarperCollins and Hachette Book Group are among other publishers who have offered buyouts in recent months.