Paramount Global is close to announcing a sale of its publisher Simon & Schuster to private investment giant KKR, according to a person familiar with the situation. Timing is always fluid but a deal could be announced as early as today. Paramount will report second-quarter earnings this afternoon. It’s the second deal for the storied publisher. A previous agreement to sell the book publisher to Bertelsmann’s Penguin Random House was blocked by U.S. regulators last year for being anticompetitive — a ruling that was upheld by a federal judge. A transaction with KKR wouldn’t face the same hurdles. HarperCollins, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., was also a suitor.
NEW YORK (AP) — Simon & Schuster’s corporate parent has officially ended the agreement for Penguin Random House to purchase the publisher, a proposed sale a federal judge already had […]
German media giant Bertelsmann’s purchase of Simon & Schuster would reduce the so-called Big Five of American publishing to four. The deal, expected to close in 2021, requires approval from the US Justice Department. No U.S. publisher in modern times would approach the power of the new company.
ViacomCBS will look to offload its Simon & Schuster publishing unit, Bob Bakish said Wednesday during an investor conference. The ViacomCBS CEO added that the publishing unit “is not a core asset. It is not video-based. It does not have significant connection for our broader business.”
