Mergers & Acquisitions

French conglomerate Vivendi appears headed to win control of Lagardère, owner of Hachette Livre. Vivendi already owns the French publisher Editis, and has been looking to increase its presence in book publishing.

Capstone, publisher of children’s books and K-5 ed-tech content, has acquired Buncee, a digital creation, collaboration, and communication tool for students and educators.

Follett Corp. has sold its K-12 software and content division, Follett School Solutions, to the investment firm Francisco Partners. Britten Follett, who remains in a leadership role at FSS, said that the deal gives the company more funding to expand in the educational technology space.

Workman Publishing, one of the largest and most distinct independent publishers in the country, will be acquired for $240 million by the Hachette Book Group in a deal that is expected to be approved in September.

After receiving a second notice for information from the FTC, Clarivate said it has extended the deadline for completing its $5.3 billion purchase of ProQuest from November 8, 2021, to December 31, 2021.

Arcadia Publishing has acquired Commonwealth Editions, the regional publishing imprint of Carlisle, Mass.–based Applewood Books. The purchase, which includes a mix of adult and children’s titles, adds more than 300 titles to Arcadia's list.

Open Road Integrated Media has acquired Bloodhound Books, a U.K.-based publisher of e-books and print titles. Founded in 2014, Bloodhound has a backlist of about 600 fiction titles, and has sold approximately six million copies of its books worldwide.

Epic, whose digital reading platform features more than 40,000 books, audiobooks, and videos for children, has been acquired by the India giant BYJU's for $500 million.

Eight years after it bought McGraw-Hill Education for $2.4 billion, Apollo Global Management has reached an agreement to sell the company to another private equity firm, Platinum Equity, for $4.5 billion.

Readerlink has acquired the brand and assets of Dreamtivity from Retail Centric Marketing. A publisher of coloring and activity books plus arts and crafts products, Dreamtivity will become an imprint of Readerlink's Printers Row publishing division.