Maria Curman to Leave Bonnier Books

Maria Curman will be stepping down as CEO for Bonnier Books at the end of 2011. After ten years as CEO, she will be focusing instead on her work as a Bonnier board member. As a result, Bonnierförlagen CEO Jacob Dalborg will be taking on responsibilities for Bonnier’s Finnish and Norwegian operations within books, and Bonnier Media Deutschland CEO Hartmut Jedicke will become the new board chair for Bonnier Publishing in the U.K.

During Maria Curman's years as CEO, Bonnier's book publishing operations have grown both in terms of sales and geographic markets. The year 2010 was the strongest for books in the company's 200-year history.

"Maria Curman has grown Bonnier's book publishing operations brilliantly," says Jonas Bonnier, CEO for Bonnier AB. "She has contributed decisively to strengthening our operations and to the successful expansion into new markets. Early on she worked with establishing educational materials publisher Bonnier Utbildning, then the reconstruction of our Nordic operations as well as the acquisition of online bookstore Adlibris as most recently of WSOY in Finland."

Today Bonnier has operations within books in five company groups in seven countries: Bonnierförlagen in Sweden, Tammi in Finland*, a 50-percent stake in Cappelen Damm in Norway, Bonnier Media Deutschland in Germany as well as the U.K.-based Bonnier Publishing, which has subsidiaries in France and Australia.

"I've had a fantastic time at Bonnier, where I've had the opportunity to develop Bonnier's book operations in both domestic and international markets," says Curman. "It's been a fun and rewarding journey and it's been exciting to end with the recent acquisition of WSOY, Finland's biggest book publisher. It will be nice to continue to contribute to the business in an active role as board member."

Following Curman's departure, Bonnierförlagen CEO Jacob Dalborg's increased responsibilities in the Nordic region will include his taking on the role of board chair for Bonnier Books Finland as well as vice chair for Cappelen Damm in Norway. Jedicke, CEO for Bonnier Media Deutschland, Germany's third largest book publisher in General Literature, along with his CEO duties will become the board chair for Bonnier Publishing in the U.K. Dalborg and Jedicke will report directly to Jonas Bonnier.

* An agreement to acquire the Finnish WSOY was made in April; the deal will be completed on Oct. 3, 2011.

Maria Curman, tel: +46 70 884 89 10
Jonas Bonnier, tel: +46 8 736 44 54

Bonnier Books
Bonnier Books is the leading book publisher group in the Nordic region and one of the leaders in Germany. The business area includes book publishers, book clubs as well as both brick and mortar and online bookstores.

Bonnierförlagen is Sweden's biggest book publisher group with a broad offering in all genres. The group includes Albert Bonniers förlag, Wahlström & Widstrand and Forum as well as the Nordic region's biggest online book seller, Adlibris, and a large range of book clubs. Bonnier Media Deutschland has an extensive offering of literature put out by publishers Piper and Ullstein Buchverlag as well as the leading publishers of children's books, Carlsen Verlag and Thienemann Verlag. Bonnier Books also includes Norway's biggest book publisher, Cappelen Damm, and bookstore chain Tanum as well as book publisher Tammi in Finland. Bonnier Publishing includes the children's book publishers Templar and Autumn in the U.K. as well as book publishers in Australia and France.