Guetersloh, Germany - Bertelsmann appointed on Tuesday a 39-year-old German, Markus Dohle, as chief executive of New York- based Random House, the world's biggest book publisher by turnover.

Dohle, who has a combined qualification in business administration and engineering methods, is to replace cerebral Peter Olson, 58, whose position made him a principal arbiter of what books the world reads.

Random House, which was taken over by German media group Bertelsmann in 1998, has a web of book companies around the world, including prestigious US imprints such as Doubleday and Alfred A Knopf or British imprints like Jonathan Cape.

Its best-selling authors include Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, and John Grisham.

Olson, who retired at his own request, is to move over to academic work at a US university, Bertelsmann said. The company's muscle and Olson's intellectual skills made him one of the top names in world publishing, with Random House books translated into many languages.

Dohle will also join the six-person Bertelsmann board, replacing Olson, at the end of this month.

To date, Dohle has been a senior executive at Arvato, a Bertelsmann subsidiary that combines printing and miscellaneous businesses in Germany. Random House had world sales last year of 1.9 billion euros (3.0 billion dollars) and a yield of 9.4 per cent.

Family-controlled Bertelsmann's main businesses are television, music and magazines. It is based in a provincial German city, Guetersloh. (dpa)