Publishing houses

One of the featured panels at this year's London Book Fair paired David Shelley and James Daunt, two executives that each run powerful companies on both sides of the Atlantic, with Shelley serving as CEO of Hachette Book Group in the U.S. and Hachette UK, and Daunt as CEO of Barnes & Noble and managing director of Waterstones.

Ann Patty on the life of a a successful young editor in New York publishing's golden days

HarperCollins global revenues grew 4% to $550m (£436m) in the three months to 31st December 2023, compared to the same period last year, primarily driven by higher digital sales, which benefited from strong audiobooks performance and improved return rates.

Modern-day trade publishing in large houses is a game of numbers, employed in the service of reducing risk. In the world of the Big Five, acquisition meetings can be characterised as boardroom affairs, where data, market analysis and profit projections hold sway.  Read more

The private equity firm KKR has completed its $1.62 billion acquisition of Simon & Schuster. KKR emerged as the winning bidder in early August after Penguin Random House's acquisition for S&S was blocked by the government in late 2022. Not many new details were disclosed about how S&S will operate that were not already revealed when the purchase was first announced.  Read more