Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe appoints Christian Jünger as c.e.o.

Christian Jünger, who has been managing director of Holtzbrinck’s Rowohlt Verlag since 2021, has been appointed the new c.e.o. of Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe, the German subsidiary of Penguin Random House (PRH).

Starting on 1st October, he will report directly to PRH’s global c.e.o. Nihar Malaviya and will also be joining the company’s Global Executive Committee.

Jünger follows in the footsteps of longtime head Thomas Rathnow who formally left the Munich-based Verlagsgruppe in April, having stepped down as c.e.o. last year due to personal reasons.

The two interim co-heads Britta Egetemeier and Thomas Pichler will continue to lead Germany’s largest trade publishing group until Jünger starts.

Before moving to Rowohlt where he was responsible for a broad commercial portfolio ranging from sales to controlling rights, IT and HR, Jünger was head of vendor management in Amazon’s German book division, thus bringing with him a deep understanding of the retail side of the book business.