NEW YORK (AP) — Upending a longtime custom of selling from inside its ranks, Simon & Schuster has named a former Amazon.com government, Greg Greeley, as its new CEO. The writer introduced Monday that Greeley’s appointment is efficient instantly.
A spokesman confirmed that the selection of Greeley marks the primary time in reminiscence that Simon & Schuster had employed a CEO from exterior the corporate. The 62-year-old Greeley succeeds Jonathan Karp, who introduced final 12 months that he was stepping right down to discovered his personal imprint on the publishing home, Simon Six. Simon & Schuster, which celebrated its centennial in 2024, is dwelling to Stephen King, Colleen Hoover and Bob Woodward and lots of different bestselling and prize-winning authors.
Whereas Karp is a longtime editor and writer who had beforehand served as head of Simon & Schuster’s flagship imprint, Greeley has a background in enterprise and funding. He spent almost 20 years at Amazon, the place his positions included vice chairman of Amazon Prime. In 2018, he left to function president of Airbnb’s Houses division. Extra lately, he was president and COO of the biotechnology startup Opentrons and CEO of Thrasio, a shopper items firm.
“Greg Greeley is a gifted and strategic chief with wide-ranging expertise managing enterprises throughout bodily and digital markets,” Richard Sarnoff, chair of the writer’s board of administrators, mentioned in an announcement. “His depth of experience and avid love of books give us the arrogance that he’s the proper CEO to take Simon & Schuster ahead because it begins its subsequent 100 years.”
Greeley will likely be operating Simon & Schuster at a time of fast change within the trade, with publishers, authors and brokers debating the position of AI in the way forward for books.
Simon & Schuster has endured quite a few upheavals over the previous few years, together with the demise of CEO Carolyn Reidy, Karp’s speedy predecessor, and an tried sale to Penguin Random Home that was blocked by a federal choose over antitrust issues. Simon & Schuster’s then-corporate homeowners, Paramount World, offered the writer to the personal fairness agency KKR in 2023.
“Simon & Schuster has performed an everlasting position in sharing and shaping human tradition by books, and I’m honored to steward that mission for the following technology of authors and readers,” Greeley mentioned in an announcement.
This story corrects the 12 months that its centennial was celebrated to 2024.