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Najafi Companies Sells Direct Brands
Four-and-half years after acquiring Bookspan and Columbia House from Bertelsmann, the Najafi Companies has sold its majority interest in those businesses’ parent company, Direct Brands, to Pride Tree Holdings. In its announcement, Najafi Cos. said the deal was done in the fourth quarter of 2012.
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Templar Publishing Buys Piccadilly Press
In an important children’s deal in the U.K., Piccadilly Press, the children’s book publisher founded by Brenda Gardner 29 years ago, has been acquired by Templar Publishing, the children’s publisher owned by Bonnier Publishing Ltd.
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Bertelsmann May Reduce RTL Holdings
Bertelsmann has announced it is considering reducing its 93% stake in broadcaster RTL Group, though it will continue to hold a stake of about 75%.
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Premier Digital in Deal with Ingram
Start-up print and e-book publisher Premier Digital Publishing has entered into a strategic alliance with Ingram Content Group, for the management and distribution of its print and digital content that it will start releasing this month.
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Fate of Remaining Wiley Consumer Line Will Be Decided Soon
With John Wiley having sold the largest, and most valuable, properties of its consumer publishing program to Google and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the company is likely to close down the remaining businesses by the end of its fiscal year in April if no deals can be reached, executives told analysts in a conference call discussing second quarter results.
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Worthy Buys Ellie Claire, Other Assets from Guideposts
Worthy Publishing has purchased the Ellie Claire Gift and Paper Expressions imprint from Guideposts, including the Ellie Claire brand and product lines. The deal also includes the acquisition of all nonfiction gift and inspirational books from Guideposts’ Summerside Press.
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B'mann Completes RH Mondadori Deal
Following approval from Spanish anti-trust authorities, Bertelsmann has taken over 100% ownership of Random House Mondadori, buying out the 50% stake from Mondadori.
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Simon & Schuster Creates Self-Publishing Unit, Archway Publishing
Through a partnership with Author Solutions Inc., Simon & Schuster has formed Archway Publishing, a unit that will offer self-publishing services in fiction, nonfiction, business and children’s categories.
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McGraw-Hill Education to be Acquired by Private Equity Firm Apollo
After a year-long process, McGraw-Hill Cos. has agreed to sell McGraw-Hill Education to the private equity group Apollo Global Management for $2.5 billion.
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Audible Strikes Deals with Diversion, AP Watt
Audible Inc. has struck deal a with Diversion Books to release a majority of the e-book house’s titles in audio format, while Audible UK has signed a new agreement with U.K. literary agency AP Watt to produce audio editions of backlist titles of seven major authors.
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Laserwords Buys Tighe Publishing Services
SPi Global, through its subsidiary Laserwords, has acquired Tighe Publishing Services, an educational development house for the K-12 market.
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HMH Trade Buys Cookbooks, Reference Titles from Wiley
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s trade & reference division has acquired John Wiley’s culinary portfolio plus reference works published under the Webster’s New World Dictionary and CliffsNotes brands. The acquisition will add about 1,500 titles to HMH.
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Bertelsmann Takes Full Ownership of Random House Mondadori
A week after announcing that it was forming a joint venture with Pearson to create Penguin Random House, Bertelsmann said this morning that it has agreed to acquire the 50% stake in the Spanish-language publisher Random House Mondadori that had been held by its Italian partner. The purchase is expected to be completed before the end of the year.
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Random House, Penguin Agree to Merge
In a deal that had been months in the making, Pearson and Bertelsmann announced Monday morning that they have signed an agreement to form a joint venture that will combine the businesses of Random House and Penguin.
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Leon Black Buys Phaidon Press
Leon Black, CEO of the private-equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC, has acquired Phaidon Press for an undisclosed price.
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Open Road Inks Audio Deal with Audible
Open Road titles will be available for purchase at Audible.com starting in December.
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John Wiley to Acquire Deltak.edu for $220 Million
John Wiley continues to diversify its business portfolio, reaching an agreement to acquire Deltak.edu, for $220 million.
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In Build-Up to Frankfurt, Handful of Titles Generate Buzz
With the Frankfurt Book Fair just over two weeks away, some in the industry are feeling that it's a bit quiet on the deal-making front.
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Permanent Press, Blackstone Audio Ink Deal
The Permanent Press and Blackstone Audio have signed a deal which will result in all 14 novels set to be released by Permanent Press in 2013, also to be released in unabridged audio editions.
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Buzzed About Novel With Tie to Bon Iver Sells In Major Deal
In one of the notable pre-Frankfurt deals, buzzed-about debut novel Shotgun Lovesongs has sold to Katie Gilligan at St. Martin's Press/Thomas Dunne, who bought U.S. and Canadian rights in a high six-figure acquisition, beating out seven other bidders.
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