CEO of Penguin Random House steps down

Markus Dohle stepped down from his role as chief executive of Penguin Random House, the publisher’s parent company, Bertelsmann, announced on Friday, just weeks after an expensive acquisition deal fell apart.

As the head of the largest publisher in the country, Dohle oversaw the attempted purchase of Simon & Schuster for $2.175 billion, a deal that the Justice Department sued to stop on antitrust grounds. The government won the case at the end of October, a ruling that cost Penguin Random House and Bertelsmann more than $200 million.

Bertelsmann, a German media conglomerate, said in a statement that Dohle was stepping down “at his own request and on the best of mutual terms.”

Penguin Random House is by far the largest of the five major publishers in the United States. But it has seen its earnings slip this year, a drop that Dohle attributed in part to supply chain costs and the rising price of paper and shipping.