The Family Business: How Ingram Transformed the World of Books

Hunt (Crossing the Aisle), an advisor to the Ingram family since 1995, gives an inside look at the Ingram Content Group, one of the publishing industry’s key players, in this comprehensive account. Making use of his access to family members and corporate archives, Hunt documents how, by the early 1960s, the Ingram family had built one of the country’s largest privately owned corporations. Bronson Ingram, the most “significant leader” of the family business in his generation, expanded the operation by acquiring the Tennessee School Book Depository in 1964, and in 1970 the Ingram Book Company was formed, becoming America’s leading national book wholesaler. Following Bronson’s death in 1995, his son John took over and helped steer the company through publisher consolidation, the growth of Amazon, and the explosion of e-book sales: by 2019, when the Ingram Content Group had revenue of about $1.8 billion, nearly 66% of its profits came from businesses formed since 1995. Though written to mark the 50th anniversary of Ingram Book Company’s formation, Hunt doesn’t shy away from discussing company missteps and controversies, such as the 1998 decision to sell the company to Barnes & Noble, which was called off after opposition by the publishing industry and government regulators. Anyone interested in learning about the modern history of book publishing would do well to check this out. (Apr.)