BBC Worldwide hires new Lonely Planet chief

Goldberg, who will join the business in March, will report to managing director of global brands Marcus Arthur. He will be based at Lonely Planet's head office in Australia.

He replaces acting chief executive Stephen Palmer, who spent just five months in the role, and who will now focus on his previous duties as chief executive for Lonely Planet EMEA.

Palmer was hired as replacement for long-standing chief executive Judy Slatyer, who left to take on a role at the WWF, the environmental group.

Goldberg joins Lonely Planet from Dow Jones, where he was senior vice president, digital strategy & operations. He led operations at the Wall Street Journal digital network, which included the brands WSJ.com, MarketWatch and Barrons.com.

He previously worked in a number of senior roles at media giant Bertelsmann, owner of RTL Group, Europe's biggest free-to-air TV group.

BBC Worldwide, the BBC's commercial arm, bought a 75% stake in Lonely Planet for a reported £75m in November 2007. At the end of last year, it launched a magazine brand extension, Lonely Planet magazine.