Jonathan Karp to Step Down as Head of Simon & Schuster

Jonathan Karp, the chief executive of Simon & Schuster, announced on Tuesday that he was stepping down from his role leading one of the largest book publishers in the United States.

He will remain at Simon & Schuster and launch a new imprint called Simon Six, which will publish six carefully curated books a year. Karp, 61, will continue on as chief executive until the board hires a replacement.

“I never saw myself as C.E.O. for life,” he said in an interview. “It’s an interesting job and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity, but I am an editor and publisher at heart.”

Karp has been the chief executive of Simon & Schuster since 2020, and has steered the company to impressive results during an enormously complicated period.

He was promoted to the role during the Covid-19 pandemic after his predecessor, Carolyn Reidy, died suddenly of a heart attack.

Simon & Schuster was for sale at the time. Another major publisher, Penguin Random House, tried to buy it, but the Biden Justice Department objected, and after a public trial, a judge blocked the merger on antitrust grounds. The publishing house was for sale again, and KKR, a private equity firm, purchased it.