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Bloomsbury Publishing PLC announced a restructuring on Wednesday, alongside the appointment of Jenny Ridout as an executive director. The fiction and non-fiction publishing house plans to separate operations into three vertical business units, each operating with their own sales, marketing and publicity, rights and audio functions. Previously, the company had operated a ‘matrix’ structure, where the three editorial division were serviced by a global sales, marketing and sales division. The London-based company said the new structure would position the firm for greater agility, clearer accountability and continued expansion. ‘By aligning our business units more closely with our key markets, we can respond to changing tastes and customer preferences, strengthening our international and digital capabilities, and leverage new technologies. We are positioning the company to align with our ambitions, to take best advantage of the opportunities ahead and to continue to create long term success,’ said Chief Executive Nigel Newton. Jenny Ridout, appointed as an executive director, will lead the new Global Academic & Professional business unit. She served as managing director of the corresponding previous editorial division. Sabrina McCarthy will lead the USA business unit, having previously overseen US consumer publishing. Kathleen Farrar, who was the managing director of group sales and marketing across the company’s global divisions and territories, will now lead the Consumer UK business unit. On Ridout’s appointment to executive director, Bloomsbury chair John Bason said: ‘This follows our long established practice of having the leader of our academic publishing on the board. Jenny has also been our leader in Artificial Intelligence and was instrumental in both the AI training deal we announced in July and the partnership with Google we announced in December.’ Shares in Bloomsbury were up 2.4% to 595.00 pence in London on Wednesday afternoon. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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