Abrupt Exit Of Icon Stuns Publishing World

Jane Friedman, whose profitable and apparently joyous reign at HarperCollins abruptly ended this week, is not widely known to the general public. But the CEO's departure stunned, and saddened, an industry that regards her as the most energetic, optimistic and collegial of executives.

"She is a huge loss to the industry. She never wrung her hands and said, `Isn't this awful'," said Patricia Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers, of which the 62-year-old Friedman is an executive board member.

"She has been a great competitor and a very friendly competitor," said Drake McFeely, president of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. and a fellow board member at the publishers association. "I've always enjoyed my interactions with her."

HarperCollins, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, announced Friedman's resignation late Wednesday night, catching even close friends off guard and leading to speculation that she had been pushed out, perhaps over continued unhappiness of the handling of O.J. Simpson's "If I Did It."

Simpson's fictionalized "confession" to the murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, was pulled in late 2006, soon after its announced publication enraged the industry and the general public. Publisher Judith Regan, who had often feuded with Friedman, was fired and her ReganBooks, a lucrative HarperCollins imprint, was disbanded.

In a statement Wednesday night, Friedman said that her 10 years at HarperCollins "have been far and away the most rewarding of my career and so it was not easy to make the decision to step down." She noted that profits had more than doubled under her leadership and that HarperCollins had aggressively pursued initiatives on the Internet and in such foreign markets as China and India.

Authors at HarperCollins include Nobel laureate Doris Lessing, Pulitzer Prize winners Robert Hass and Edward P. Jones, and such commercial favorites as Michael Crichton and Paulo Coelho.

Friedman's contract was not due to expire until November, but her resignation was effective immediately. She has been succeeded by Brian Murray, 41, who had been president of HarperCollins since last summer.

"I've worked with Jane over 10 years in lots of different ways and I've learned so much about publishing from her," said Murray, who said he planned no change in company direction, "neither to the left nor to the right." He said he strongly supported the recent hiring of some prominent executives from rival publishers, including Steve Ross, who had headed the Crown Publishing Group at Random House Inc., and Bob Miller, a close friend of Friedman's and the longtime president of Hyperion.

Murdoch said in a statement that Friedman had been a "terrific leader" and added, "We are enormously grateful for her contributions over the past 10 years and understand her desire to seek new challenges at this point in her career."

Friedman, who had seemed as enthusiastic as ever at last weekend's booksellers convention, BookExpo America, did not immediately return a phone message Thursday from The Associated Press. According to Murray and other HarperCollins officials, she spoke briefly Thursday morning at a regularly scheduled marketing meeting, where she received a standing ovation, reiterated that the decision to leave was hers and said she had no immediate plans, beyond taking the summer off.

"It was wonderful," said Murray, who warmly praised Friedman at the meeting. "She has handled this with such class and dignity."

Two other publishing CEOs have left in the past year: Simon & Schuster's Jack Romanos and Peter Olson of Random House.