The parent company of America’s largest publishing house, Penguin Random House, has emerged the victor in a bidding war for the country’s third largest book publisher.
Bertelsmann says it has reached an agreement to purchase S&S for $2.175 billion, with the deal expecting to close in 2021 following regulatory approvals. Until that time, the companies say S&S will continue to operate independently under current president and CEO Jonathan Karp.
The agreement will essentially merge two of America’s largest publishers and increase Penguin’s dominance in the North American industry.
“Simon & Schuster aligns completely with the creative and entrepreneurial culture that we nurture by providing editorial autonomy to our publishers, funding their pursuit of new stories, ideas, and voices, and maximizing reach for our authors,” said CEO Markus Dohle in a letter to Penguin Random House (PRH) employees. “We recognize—and our success has demonstrated— that collaboration makes us all stronger, and by bringing Simon & Schuster onto our global platform, we will be able to connect their authors and books with even more readers.”
The bidding war pitted Bertelsmann against HarperCollins, the country’s second largest publisher. Had Harper Collins won the bid, it would still be the second largest publisher by revenue, but the acquisition would have closed the gap considerably between HarperCollins and PRH.
The combined company would boast revenues of approximately $3 billion compared to roughly $1.1 billion for HarperCollins. Pending regulatory approval, the deal also means those two companies alone will account for more than 25 per cent of all trade publishing revenue in the US, which is currently estimated at $16.2 billion.