Mergers & Acquisitions

Penguin Random House has agreed to acquire Simon & Schuster for $2.175 billion. The deal, which is expected to be completed next year, will combine the country's largest and third largest trade publishers.

Deep Vellum Publishing is acquiring the assets of Dalkey Archive Press and will maintain the company as a distinct imprint, publishing new titles as well as maintaining the press's backlist.

Robert Thomson, CEO of HarperCollins parent company News Corp, said during the company's annual meeting that a purchase of Simon & Schuster by Penguin Random House "will clearly be a serious antitrust issue."

Saying that private equity firms had dropped out of the bidding, the 'New York Times' reported this morning that the country's first and second largest trade publishers—Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, respectively—were now the favorites to acquire Simon & Schuster, the country's third largest trade publisher.

Chronicle Books has acquired three toy and game brands from Wild + Wolf, a Bath, England–based gift specialist. The deal adds some 350 products to Chronicle's gift and game offerings.

In a deal that closed on October 31, Bertelsmann Printing Group USA’s Berryville Graphics division acquired Quad’s book printing plants in Fairfield, Pa., and Martinsburg, W.Va.

Five years after it left the academic library market, Baker & Taylor has returned. The move, however, does not mean the wholesaler has any plans to get back into the retail market.

Former Crown publisher Molly Stern has returned to book publishing as the founder of Zando, an independent publisher that will develop its own list as well as partner with “influential people, platforms and institutions to acquire and publish new titles under their own imprints."

Walter Mosley was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's Bouchercon 2020. In an interview with 'PW,' Mosley touched on topics ranging from his career to the progress mystery organizations have made in addressing diversity concerns.

Fox News has created Fox News Books and signed a three-book deal with HarperCollins, whose Broadside Books will oversee the imprint.