HarperCollins completes purchase of a publisher for $349 million

HarperCollins Publishers acquires Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s books and media business.
News Corp. announced the completion of the deal on May 10. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s business will be run by HarperCollins Publishers, a subsidiary of News Corp.

By acquiring Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, HarperCollins will be better able to compete in the publishing industry. Photo: Richard Drew / Associated Press. Robert Thomson – CEO of News Corp – said welcome: “We welcome the talented team of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to HarperCollins, especially at a time when so many people in many places are reading and listening to books. “. “We look forward to new and exciting opportunities as we chart a stronger future together,” said Brian Murray, President and CEO of HarperCollins. He thinks that merging two publishing companies, each with a long list of literary works, will be the focus of team cohesion. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt owns a list of more than 7,000 titles and has many important works in the lifestyle and children’s segments. Many famous books by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt help to generate high profits such as: Curious George, The Polar Express, Little Blue Truck and The Little Prince … HarperCollins will acquire the English rights to JRR Tolkien’s novels and films, including Hobbit guy and The Lord of the Rings . Illustration by JRR Tolkien in the upcoming edition of The Lord of the Rings. Photo: The Tolkien Estate/Harper Collins. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s audiobook business is also thriving, which is expected to boost HarperCollins’ audiobook sales. Before that, the sheet New York Times commented that by acquiring Houghton Mifflin, HarperCollins will be better able to compete as the publishing industry is being dominated by “big players”. In recent years, the book business has witnessed the consolidation of a number of large publishing units. In 2020, ViacomCBS agreed to sell Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House for more than $2 billion. The deal attracted the attention of antitrust regulators and raised concerns among booksellers, authors and agents. The deal of these two book giants is not yet completed. HarperCollins is the second largest publisher of consumer books in the world. In the first quarter of the year, HarperCollins saw revenue growth of 19% year over year. Headquartered in New York, HarperCollins has publishing operations in 17 countries. This unit has more than 120 publishing brands around the world. Each year, this unit publishes about 10,000 books, print and digital catalogs more than 200,000 works.