Melville House Books

More signs of the deepening impact of the current economic maelstrom upon the book industry, in this instance on the biggest publisher in the world: Random House, which Friday announced it was freezing the company’s pension plan program, and would not be offering any pension program at all to new hires. An Associated Press wire story by Hillel Italie reports company spokesman Stuart Applebaum “said talk of cutting pension had been going on for years, although changes at Random House have been expected since Markus Dohle replaced Peter Olson in May as chairman of the publisher’s worldwide operations.” Italie quotes Applebaum saying, “Mr. Dohle’s planning and discussions about the company’s future has been and continue to be very interactive at all levels of the company worldwide.” So does that mean more belt-tightening to come? “Random House has always been a cost-conscious company, and particularly so in these financially troubled times,”Applebaum says.

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.