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Peter Mayer - Joining Penguin Books (27/99)

40 views · Published 23 August 2017 · 1:21 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: Web of Stories - Life Stories of Remarkable People · 2017 · Entertainment

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British-born Peter Mayer (1936-2018) was an independent American publisher who, as head of the New York-based Avon Books, successfully introduced the trade paperback to the mass market. From 1978 to 1996, he was CEO of Penguin Books. [Listener: Christopher Sykes; date recorded: September 2014-January 2015]

TRANSCRIPT: So I left and I went to Pocket Books, which is where – and I didn't get along with Mr Snyder – so when the offer came from Penguin, I went for it and came to Penguin.

I took about three months negotiating my salary.  Britain at that time, it was the Callaghan period, did not pay salaries, proper salaries, they had all sorts of perks, but people were very heavily taxed, 80% or 85% 90%, I don't know what. And I said, you don't have to pay me any more than I'm earning in the United States, but you have to pay me the same.  I don't know how you do it, but I am not British, I am an American, and you want to hire me; just pay me the same, you don't have to pay me a penny more.  I don't want any free suits, they were giving free suits to chief executives at that time, hand-tailored suits and Jaguars and... You don't have to give any perks, just pay me plain and simple. Here's my contract, this is what I'm earning now, pay me the same, you've got me, don't give me any perks.  But Britain was a land of perks then, to get around this very heavy taxation.

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