Finlay retires from Transworld after 40 years

Transworld m.d. Larry Finlay will retire at the end of the year after 40 years with the company.

Penguin Random House c.e.o. Tom Weldon praised his “energy, commercial acumen and sheer chutzpah”. 

“I feel unbelievably blessed,” said 63-year-old Finlay. “When I first answered that job ad in 1983, no one – least of all me – could possibly have imagined I’d still be at Transworld four decades later – and still loving my job. While so much has changed in the business in that time, the beating heart of Transworld remains the same: passion for our authors, belief in their books, and a hunger for success.”  

He added: “We often say that ‘There’s no ‘I’ in Transworld’ – it sounds corny but actually it’s true: throughout my time, I have been lucky enough to work with an incredible team across editorial, sales, marketing, publicity, design and production. You would be hard-pressed to find a more committed, dedicated, creative and resourceful bunch of people, and I feel so lucky to have been able to work with them for so many years, indeed for decades in the case of several of my closest colleagues. I will miss them enormously.”  

Weldon said: “This is the moment I hoped would never come — the retirement of one of the true greats of the publishing industry over the last 40 years. There is no one quite like Larry Finlay. His passion for authors and books, his energy and drive, his commercial acumen, and his sheer chutzpah are unique. His enthusiasm is infectious — it is literally impossible to have a meeting with him without having a Transworld book pressed into your hand — and he has helped make more bestsellers than probably anyone else in London. He has led Transworld from the front in such a generous, big-hearted way, and made it an extraordinarily successful and happy company. 

“I feel incredibly fortunate to have worked very closely with Larry over the last decade at Penguin Random House, and I am proud to call him a friend, as well as a colleague. I have benefited in so many ways from his advice, humour, kindness and wisdom.”  

Weldon added: “Larry has always loved a party, and we are going to have the party to end all parties to thank him and to say goodbye. We will miss him enormously, but I know so many of us will feel eternally grateful that he has enriched our lives in such a wonderful way.”  

Finlay first joined the Penguin Random House division in 1983 as copywriter before swiftly rising up the ranks. He became marketing director in 1991, then paperbacks publisher in 1996, deputy publisher in 1999, finally taking the helm as m.d. in 2001.  

Under his leadership, Transworld has published an array of bestsellers including Dan Brown, Paula Hawkins, Terry Pratchett, Lee and Andrew Child, Jilly Cooper, Kate Atkinson, Belinda Bauer, John Boyne, Bill Bryson as well as Stephen Hawking, Sophie Kinsella and Curtis Sittenfeld among others. 

Finlay leaves Transworld at a commercial high: selling 3.8 million books for £31.6m in 2022 but the first half of 2023 has been so lucrative the division is already at 64% of 2022’s volume and 77% of its value. Recent successes include the two biggest selling books of the year so far: Spare by Prince Harry (which has shifted 690,158 copies making £9.8m) and Lessons in Chemistry by British Book Awards’ Author of the Year Bonnie Garmus (which has sold 502,813 copies across all editions, for £4.4m according to Nielsen BookScan).

Finlay will be leaving Transworld at the end of the year. There will be an open recruitment process to find his successor.