Penguin Group

Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initially owning 53% of the joint venture, and Pearson PLC initially owning the remaining 47%.[2] Since 18 December 2019, Penguin Random House has been wholly owned by Bertelsmann.[3]

Penguin Group
Founded30 July 1935 (1935-07-30)
(as Penguin Books)
Founder
[1]
Headquarters20 Vauxhall Bridge Rd, London, United Kingdom
ProductsBooks
RevenueDecrease £1.05 billion (2010)
ParentPenguin Random House
Websitepenguin.co.uk

Penguin Books has its registered office in City of Westminster, London.[4][5]

Its British division is Penguin Books Ltd. Other separate divisions are located in the United States, Ireland, New Zealand, India, Australia, Canada, China, Brazil and South Africa.

History

Penguin Books Ltd. (est. 1935) of the United Kingdom was bought by Pearson Longman in 1970. In 1975, Penguin acquired the American hardcover firm Viking Press.[6] In 1986, Penguin acquired the New American Library, a mass-market paperback publisher.[7] In 1995, Penguin acquired the independent publisher Donald I. Fine.[8]

Penguin Group (USA) Inc. was formed in 1996 as a result of the merger between Penguin Books USA and the Putnam Berkley Group after Penguin acquired Putnam Berkley from MCA.[9][10] The newly formed company was originally called Penguin Putnam Inc., but, in 2003, it changed its name to Penguin Group (USA) Inc. to reflect the parent Pearson PLC's grouping of all the Penguin companies worldwide under the supervisory umbrella of Pearson's own Penguin Group division.

The different Penguin companies use many imprints, many of which used to be independent publishers.[11] Penguin Group (USA) Inc. also operates its own speaker's bureau that books speaking engagements for many of the publisher's authors. In 2011, the online writing and publishing community Book Country was launched as a subsidiary of Penguin Group USA.[12]

On 11 April 2012, the United States Department of Justice filed United States v. Apple Inc., naming Apple, Penguin, and four other major publishers as defendants. The suit alleged that they conspired to fix prices for e-books and weaken Amazon.com's position in the market in violation of antitrust law.[13] In December 2013, a federal judge approved a settlement of the antitrust claims, in which Penguin and the other publishers paid into a fund that provided credits to customers who had overpaid for books due to the price-fixing.[14]

On 26 October 2012, Pearson entered into talks with rival conglomerate Bertelsmann, over the possibility of combining their respective publishing companies, Penguin Group and Random House. The houses were considered two of the 'Big Six' publishing companies prior to the merger,[15] which became the 'Big Five' upon its completion. The European Union approved the Penguin Random House merger on 5 April 2013.

Imprints

Penguin Group imprints include the following:[16]

See also

References
  1. Company history, Penguin Random House
  2. Mark Sweney "Penguin and Random House merger to create biggest book publisher ever seen", The Guardian, 29 October 2012
  3. Spahr, Wolfgang (18 December 2019) "BMG Parent Bertelsmann to Acquire Full Stake in Penguin Random House" Billboard
  4. "26. What is Penguin Books Limited's company registration number? Archived 11 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine" Penguin Books. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
  5. "Maps Archived 5 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine." City of Westminster. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
  6. Whitman, Alden (11 November 1975). "Viking Press Is Sold to Penguin Books". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  7. McDowell, Edwin (October 1986). "PENGUIN AGREES TO BUY NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY". Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  8. "Penguin acquires Donald I. Fine". Publishers Weekly. 242 (37): 10–11. 11 September 1995. ISSN 0000-0019. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  9. Lyall, Sarah (27 November 1996). "Penguin Is Buying MCA's Putnam Berkley for $336 Million". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  10. "Now for the Grann Finale". NYMag.com. 21 January 2002. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  11. "Penguin Group (USA): About Us". Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 12 August 2005.
  12. "What's the Penguin About?". Bookcountry.com. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  13. Mui, Ylan Q. and Hayley Tsukayama (11 April 2012). "Justice Department sues Apple, publishers over e-book prices". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  14. Molina, Brett (25 March 2014). "E-book price fixing settlements rolling out". USA Today. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  15. Edgecliffe, Andrew (26 October 2012). "Penguin and Random House in deal talks". Financial Times. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  16. "Penguin: Publishers/Imprints". Archived from the original on 27 January 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  17. "Avery – Publishers – Penguin Group (USA)". Us.penguingroup.com. 4 September 2001. Archived from the original on 5 January 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  18. "HPBooks – Publishers – Penguin Group (USA)". Us.penguingroup.com. Archived from the original on 16 February 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  19. "Penguin Young Readers to Launch New Imprint Kokila". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  20. "Awa Press | Penguin Books New Zealand". Penguin.co.nz. Archived from the original on 3 March 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  21. "The Penguin Press – Publishers – Penguin Group (USA)". Us.penguingroup.com. Archived from the original on 13 February 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  22. "TARCHERPERIGEE". penguingroup. Archived from the original on 2 July 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  23. "Who Are 'The Big Six'?". Fiction Matters. 5 March 2010. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
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