Penguin’s Fall Guy

While it’s clear that Forbes Watson is, as of yesterday, no longer Penguin’s UK topper, the details remain hazy. According to the Independent, Watson was “abruptly ousted”; the Guardian, however, describes Watson as quitting. The Book Standard’s report commits to neither possibility, simply remarking that Watson “left” and that John Makinson, Penguin Group chairman and CEO, has taken over.

Both the Independent and the Guardian, though, roll their eyes at Penguin’s public stance that warehouse problems didn’t factor into Watson’s departure. As one senior industry source tells the Independent, “The talk in the trade was that Makinson himself may have to take the rap [for the distribution problems] but it appears that Forbes Watson is the fall guy.”

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