Richard Sarnoff

Biography

Mr. Richard Sarnoff serves as Managing Director of Private Equity and Head of Media & Communications. Previously, he was the Co-Head of TMT of Americas at the firm. Mr. Sarnoff is a part of Technology, Media and Telecommunications industry team for KKR's Private Equity platform in the Americas. He works closely with the KKR team to identify and pursue new investments, particularly in the media sector, while also supporting existing portfolio companies. Prior to this position, Mr. Sarnoff served as a Senior Adviser at KKR, working closely with both investment teams and portfolio companies. He served as Head of the Media and Communications at KKR & Co. L.P. He serves as a Senior Advisor at Golub Capital BDC, Inc. He served as a Senior Advisor and a Director at Weld North LLC. He served as the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President at Random House, Inc. beginning in 1998. He was an architect of the Random House acquisition in 1998 and subsequently served as its Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He served as an Advisor at Greycroft Partners LLC. He served as President of Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI) until 2011. He established and ran BDMI since 2006. Mr. Sarnoff served as Head of Corporate Development for RH Ventures LLC at Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA until 2011. He served as President/Head of BDMI. Mr. Sarnoff served as the President at Random House Ventures, LLC since March 2000 and served as its Executive Vice President. Prior to 1998, he served at Bantam Doubleday Dell in various management positions including that of the Senior Vice President of Diversified Publishing and New Media, Vice President of Strategic Planning, Director of Marketing for the Bantam Publishing Division and Director of Planning for the Sales and Marketing Division. He was employed at Prima Communications Inc. He has been Director of Pandora Media, Inc. since May 8, 2017. He has been Director of Chegg, Inc., since August 2012. He serves as a Director of Ebrary, Inc., Xlibris, Inc., Oak Hill Securities Fund II, L.P. and Classic Media, Inc. Mr. Sarnoff serves as a Member of Board of Directors of BMG Rights Management GmbH and Cengage. He serves on the Board of Directors of American Reading Company, The Princeton Review and UITV. He has been a Director of Cengage Learning Holdings II, Inc. since March 2014. Mr. Sarnoff also serves as the Chairman of the American Association of Publishers. He serves as a Director of Center for Communication, Inc., Princeton University Press, Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy and New Classrooms/School of One and the Bronx Lab School. He served as Co-Chairman of Bertelsmann Inc. until 2011. He served as Chairman of VOCEL, Inc and previously served as its Vice Chairman. He served as Chairman of Association of American Publishers Inc. He served as an Independent Director of Audible, Inc. from March 2001 to March 11, 2008 and RoyaltyShare, Inc. from October 2007 to September 28, 2011. He served as Director of RoyaltyShare, Inc. from October 2010 to September 28, 2011. He served as a Director of Emotive Communications, Inc. He served as a Director of Education Holdings 1, Inc., from 1998 to April 16, 2009; Activision Blizzard, Inc., from August 2005 to July 1, 2015 and Activision, Inc. since August 2005. He served as a Director of Amdocs Limited from March 1, 2010 to April 28, 2011. He served as Member of the Supervisory Board at Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA from July 01, 2002 to May 30, 2008. He was first U.S. executive who served as Member of the Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann AG since 2002. He was named the publishing industry's Person of the Year by Publishers Weekly magazine in 2009. Mr. Sarnoff received an M.B.A. from the Harvard University in 1987 and a B.A., summa cum laude, in Art and Archaeology from Princeton University in 1981.

Research Interest

 Accounting & Marketing