Miramax Books' Jonathan Burnham takes job at HarperCollins

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Jonathan Burnham, president and editor in chief of Miramax Books, is leaving his job to become publisher of HarperCollins, a newspaper reported Tuesday. <br/><br/>Miramax Books is expected

Tuesday, March 8th 2005, 10:32 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Jonathan Burnham, president and editor in chief of Miramax Books, is leaving his job to become publisher of HarperCollins, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Miramax Books is expected to be merged with Hyperion Books, the Los Angeles Times said.

His departure comes as Miramax Films founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein continued their negotiations to break from the Walt Disney Co., Miramax's parent company. The Weinsteins are under contract to run Miramax through 2009.

``Bob and Harvey are thrilled for Jonathan,'' said Miramax Films spokesman Matthew Hiltzik. ``It's a tremendous opportunity and one of the great publishing houses.''

Burnham is credited with helping turn Miramax Books into a publishing powerhouse with more than 70 titles, including 20 best sellers.

Top-selling titles include ``Leadership'' by former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and ``Big Russ & Me'' by journalist Tim Russert.

Burnham, a former senior editor at Pearson's Viking, was tapped to join Miramax in 1999 by Tina Brown, the former editor of the now-defunct Talk magazine that was financed by Miramax.