Penguin Random House

Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Group and Random House.
Penguin Books was originally founded in 1935 and Random House was founded in 1927. Along with Simon & Schuster, Hachette, HarperCollins and Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Random House is considered one of the 'Big Five' English language publishers.
On April 2, 2020, Bertelsmann announced the completion of its purchase of Penguin Random House, which had been announced in December 2019, by buying Pearson plc's 25% ownership of the company. With the purchase, Bertelsmann became the sole owner of Penguin Random House. Bertelsmann's German-language publishing group Verlagsgruppe Random House will be completely integrated into Penguin Random House, adding 45 imprints to the company, for a total of 365 imprints.
As of 2021, Penguin Random House employed about 10,000 people globally and published 15,000 titles annually under its 250 divisions and imprints. These titles include fiction and nonfiction for adults and children in both print and digital. Penguin Random House comprises Penguin and Random House in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, and India; Penguin in Brazil, Asia and South Africa; Dorling Kindersley worldwide; and Random House's companies in Spain, Hispanic America, and Germany.
On November 25, 2020, The New York Times reported that Penguin Random House was planning to purchase Simon & Schuster from Paramount Global for $2.175 billion. However, on November 2, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice sued to stop the deal on antitrust grounds, a suit that eventually succeeded on October 31, 2022. The deal formally collapsed on November 22, 2022.
History
Penguin Random House was formed on July 1, 2013, by Markus Dohle upon the completion of a £2.4 billion transaction between Bertelsmann and Pearson to merge their respective trade publishing companies, Random House and Penguin Group. Bertelsmann and Pearson, the parent companies, initially owned 53% and 47%, respectively. Jane Ciabattari of Library Journal has referred to this merger as the publishing industry's response to the increasing dominance of Amazon.com in the book market. Markus Dohle was named CEO of the new company, which had more than 10,000 employees worldwide with more than 250 imprints and publishing houses and a publishing list of more than 15,000 new titles a year. Penguin Random House relaunched Book Country, Penguin's online writing community, on July 29, 2013. On September 24, 2014, Random House Studio signed a first-look production deal with Universal Pictures, under which Random House would be the producer of films based on Penguin Random House books. The Universal subsidiary Focus Features has frequently collaborated with Random House Films. Having previously created Puffin Rock animation, Richard Haines was chosen to head Penguin Random House Children's TV development strategy with the assistance of licensing, publishing, and TV development executive Emily Campan.
In November 2015, Pearson announced it would rebrand to focus on its education division. On July 11, 2017, Pearson sold a 22% stake in the business to Bertelsmann, thereby retaining a 25% holding. On December 18, 2019, Bertelsmann agreed to acquire Pearson's 25% stake in Penguin Random House, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of Bertelsmann. The sale was completed on April 2, 2020. In June 2020, Penguin Random House was one of a group of publishers who sued the Internet Archive, arguing that its collection of e-books was denying authors and publishers revenue and accusing the library of "willful mass copyright infringement".
On November 25, 2020, Penguin Random House agreed to purchase American publisher Simon & Schuster from ViacomCBS for $2.175 billion. A formal regulatory approval process will follow the purchase agreement. On November 2, 2021, the US Justice Department filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block Penguin Random House's proposed acquisition of Simon & Schuster. The lawsuit alleges that the acquisition would create a publisher with too much influence over books and author payments. On November 21, 2022, Penguin Random House decided to scrap the whole deal. As a result, it will have to pay a $200m termination fee to Paramount, a mother company of Simon & Schuster.
Divisions and imprints
DK
DK (Dorling Kindersley) was founded in London in 1974 and is a reference publisher focusing on non-fiction for adults and children.
Alpha, publishes Complete Idiot's Guides
As of 2015, DK also has official publishing relationships with Angry Birds, Lego, Marvel, Star Wars, and Disney.
Crown Publishing Group
Crown Publishing was founded in 1933 as the Outlet Book Company, a remainder house, and is now a publisher of fiction and narrative non-fiction. In 2018, Crown was combined with the main Random House Publishing Group.
Amphoto Books, publishes photography books
Broadway Books, founded in 1996 as part of Bantam Doubleday Dell and is now the paperback imprint of Crown
Clarkson Potter, produces cookbooks, illustrated gift books, and journals
Crown Archetype, hardcover publisher of pop-culture titles
Crown Business, publishes business-related content
Crown Forum, publishes political discourse
Harmony Books, publishes self-help titles
Hogarth Press, partnership between Crown in the US and Windus in the UK
Convergent, Image Catholic Books (Doubleday Religion), Waterbrook & Multnomah publish Christian non-fiction and fiction titles
Pam Krauss Books, founded in 1915 and publishes culinary, food, and lifestyle related titles
Rodale Books
Ten Speed Press, joined Crown in 2009 as a West Coast publisher of nonfiction and gift titles
Tim Duggan Books, founded in 2014
Watson-Guptill, publishes illustrated art books as part of Ten Speed Press
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Alfred A. Knopf, publisher of hardcover fiction and nonfiction, founded in 1915 by Alfred A. Knopf, and Blanche Knopf. Titles under Alfred A. Knopf have won 58 Pulitzers as well as Nobel and National Book Awards.
Doubleday, publisher of commercial, literary, and serious nonfiction founded in 1897
Pantheon, founded in 1942 by Kurt Wolff
Schocken, publisher of Judaica, became a part of Random House in 1945
Vintage Books, trade paperback publisher founded by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954
Anchor Books, publisher of history, science, women's studies, sociology and fiction
Vintage Español, Spanish-language publisher in the United States, founded in 1994 by Alfred A. Knopf
Black Lizard, also known as Vintage Crime, publisher of crime fiction, acquired by Random House in 1990
Nan A. Talese, literary imprint formed in 1990 to house authors published by editor Nan A. Talese
Everyman's Library, a series of reprinted classic literature currently published in hardback
Penguin Publishing Group
Avery, publisher of nonfiction and lifestyle books founded in 1974
Berkley Publishing Group/New American Library, contain several imprints including Jove, Signet, Ace, Roc, Sensation, and Caliber
DAW, publisher of science fiction and fantasy
Dutton, small boutique fiction and non-fiction publisher of about 40 books per year
Putnam, publisher founded in 1838
Pamela Dorman Books/Viking, established in 2010 as a boutique publisher of VP Pamela Dorman
Penguin, established in 1935 in the UK as a publisher of mass market paperbacks; houses Penguin Books, Penguin Classics, and most recently Penguin Press
Perigee, originally the trade paperback imprint for G.P. Putnam's Sons; publishes prescriptive non-fiction, self-help and how-to books
Plume, trade paperback imprint with a focus on multi-cultural and LGBT publishing
Portfolio, founded in 2001 as a business imprint
Riverhead, publisher of literary fiction and non-fiction founded in 1994
Sentinel, founded in 2003 as a conservative imprint
Tarcher Perigee, publisher of mind, body, and spiritualism titles
Viking Press, founded in 1925 and publishes both fiction and non-fiction titles
Penguin Young Readers Group
Penguin Young Readers Group is a division devoted to books for young readers and young adults.
Dial Books for Young Readers, publishes about 70 hardcover children's books per year
Firebird, publishes young adult science fiction and fantasy
Frederick Warne, publisher founded in 1865 that develops brands based on classic children's literature such as Peter Rabbit
G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, publisher of picture books
Grosset & Dunlap, publisher of paperback series, leveled readers, nonfiction, brands, and licenses for ages 0–12
Kathy Dawson Books, launched in 2014 by publisher Kathy Dawson to publish hardcover middle-grade and YA fiction
Ladybird Books, publishes books for toddlers
Nancy Paulsen Books, launched in 2011 by publisher Nancy Paulsen to publish picture books
Philomel Books
Price Stern Sloan (PSS!), founded to publish the Mad Libs books in the 1960s, expanded to publish additional children's, novelty, and humor titles
Puffin Books, publishes books for young readers in various formats
Razorbill, publishes middle grade and young adult books
Speak, launched in 2002 to publish classic and new young adult fiction
Viking, publishes books for young readers
Random House Publishing Group
Ballantine Books, founded in 1952 to publish fiction and nonfiction hardcover and paperback titles
Bantam Books, originally a publisher of mass-market reprints; currently publishes fiction and nonfiction in all formats
Delacorte Press, founded in 1921 as a publisher of pulp magazines, detective stories, and movie articles, has expanded to publish original fiction in all formats
Del Rey Books, branch of Ballantine Books that focuses on science fiction and fantasy titles
The Dial Press, literary publisher
Inklore, founded in 2023 to publish manga, manhwa, manhua, webcomics adaptations, and light novels
Modern Library, publisher of American and international classics founded by Boni & Liveright
Random House, originally founded in 1927 by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, and publishes fiction
Heyne Publishing, a German fiction Publisher for mass-market
Spiegel & Grau
Sugar23 Books, fiction and non-fiction
Alibi, Flirt, Hydra, and Loveswept, publish e-originals in genre fiction
Random House Children's Books
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, publisher of board books, picture books, novels and non-fiction
Bluefire, fantasy imprint for middle grade and young adult readers
Crown Books for Young Readers
Dragonfly, publishes paperback picture books
Ember, publishes young adult and middle grade trade paperbacks, such as titles by Judy Blume and Dana Reinhardt
Golden Books, picture book, novelty, and activity book publisher launched in 1900
Laurel-Leaf, publishes young adult literature in a mass-market format
Little Tiger Press, British publisher
The Princeton Review, publishes print and digital test prep materials
Random House Books for Young Readers, publisher of Dr. Seuss, Babar, Magic Tree House series, Junie B. Jones, and Step into Reading
Random House Graphic, launched in 2018, publishes graphic novels
Schwartz and Wade, launched in 2005 and directed by Anne Schwartz and Lee Wade
Sylvan Learning, publishes workbooks and study aids.
Yearling Books, publishes middle grade paperbacks
Wendy Lamb Books, publisher of middle-grade and young adult fiction launched in 2002
Penguin Random House Digital Publishing Group
Random House Puzzles & Games
Sasquatch Books
Audiobooks
Books on Tape
Listening Library
Penguin Audio
Random House Audio
Playaway
Reference
Random House Reference
Penguin Random House International
Companhia das Letras (70% Brazil)
Alfaguara
Objetiva
Suma de Letras
Zahar
Penguin Random House Australia
Penguin Random House Group (UK)
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial (Spain/Portugal/Latin America)
Alfaguara
Ediciones B
Editorial Bruguera
Plaza & Janés
Santillana Ediciones Generales
Penguin Random House India
Duckbill Books
Penguin Random House New Zealand
Penguin Random House Canada
Penguin Random House Struik (South Africa)
Transworld Ireland
Verlagsgruppe Penguin Random House (Germany)
Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Handling distribution and marketing for Shambhala Publications, National Geographic Books, Wizards of the Coast, Kodansha USA (including Vertical Inc.), New York Review Books, Titan Books, Other Press, North Atlantic Books, Blue Star Press, DC Comics, and Dark Horse Comics among others.
It also handles direct market distribution for Marvel Comics starting October 1, 2021, direct market distribution for IDW Publishing starting June 1, 2022, and direct market distribution for Dark Horse Comics starting June 1, 2023.
Ebury Publishing
BBC Books
Ebury Press
Rider
Time Out
Virgin Books
Vermilion
Subsidiaries
Book Country
Book Country was a subsidiary online writing and publishing community. Book Country was launched in April 2011 with a focus on romance, mystery, science fiction, fantasy. On July 29, 2013, Book Country relaunched with online writing workshops in more than 60 literary categories, including literary fiction, memoir, and women's fiction. As of September 2013, the site had more than 10,000 members. As of November 2020, the site is no longer operational.
References
Further reading
External links
2013 establishments in New York City
American subsidiaries of foreign companies
Bertelsmann subsidiaries
Book publishing companies based in New York (state)
Book publishing company imprints
Publishing companies based in New York City
Publishing companies established in 2013