Merger Completed: Say Hello to Penguin Random House (Roundup)

From a Random House News Release:

Bertelsmann owns 53% and Pearson 47% of the company. Penguin Random House will combine the adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction print and digital trade book publishing businesses of Penguin and Random House in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India; Penguin’s trade publishing activity in Asia and South Africa; Dorling Kindersley worldwide; and Random House’s companies in Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, and Chile.
Random House’s German-language publishing group, Verlagsgruppe Random House, is outside the venture, and remains part of Bertelsmann…

Read the Complete Announcement (Includes Names of New Company Executives)
From a Pearson News Release

As previously indicated, John Makinson is today stepping down from the Pearson board to assume his full-time responsibilities as Chairman of Penguin Random House.
John Fallon, Chief Executive of Pearson, said: “Penguin has been at the heart of Pearson for more than four decades and is deeply intertwined with our culture and operations. This combination creates a clear world leader with a strong platform for continued creative and commercial success in a rapidly-changing consumer publishing industry. This will be an excellent business and we will be active long-term partners in it.”

From Publisher’s Weekly:

As outlined by its parent companies, PRH will have over 10,000 employees worldwide and publish more than 15,000 new titles every year across 250 imprints. It is estimated that the new trade publishing powerhouse will have annual revenue of $3.9 billion.

From The Bookseller:

Thomas Rabe, chairman and chief executive of Bertelsmann, said: “With today’s launch of Penguin Random House, Bertelsmann and Pearson have set a great course for the future of the book, and book publishing – and new growth for Bertelsmann. Together, we can and will invest on a much larger scale than separately in diverse content, author development and support, the publishing talent, the entire spectrum of physical and digital book acquisitions, production, marketing, and distribution, and also in fast-growing markets of the future.”

See Also:  Deal Confirmed: Penguin and Random House Combining to Create New Joint Venture (October 29, 2012)

Filed under: Academic Libraries, News, Publishing, Roundup