News Corp Completes Acquisition of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media Segment
May 10 2021 - 9:25AM
Business Wire
News Corp announced today that it has completed its acquisition
of the Books & Media segment of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH
Books & Media).
As previously announced, the business will be operated by
HarperCollins Publishers, a News Corp subsidiary.
“We welcome the talented team at HMH Books & Media to
HarperCollins, especially at a time when so many people in so many
places are reading and listening to books,” said Robert Thomson,
Chief Executive of News Corp. “With the addition of the compelling
Books & Media backlist and frontlist, as well as its expertise
and creativity in digital development, HarperCollins will be even
better positioned to serve authors and audiences around the
world.”
“We are happy to welcome HMH Books & Media employees,
authors, and illustrators to the HarperCollins family,” said Brian
Murray, President and CEO of HarperCollins Publishers. “Uniting two
publishing companies, each with more than 200 years of literary
history, will be the focus of our combined teams. We look forward
to new and exciting opportunities as we chart a stronger future
together.”
HMH Books & Media, with its extensive backlist of more than
7,000 titles and a significant frontlist in the lifestyle and
children’s segments, has a history of strong profitability. Popular
HMH Books & Media titles include 1984 and Animal Farm, Curious
George, The Polar Express, Little Blue Truck and The Little Prince.
The acquisition gives HarperCollins US rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s
works, which means the publisher now has global English language
rights to titles that include The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
trilogy.
HMH Books & Media’s Productions business repurposes its
popular brands across media platforms, including the animated
series Carmen Sandiego on Netflix, which is also in development as
a live-action feature film. The company also has a flourishing
audiobooks business, which is expected to add value to
HarperCollins’s own large and growing audiobook revenue stream.
HMH Books & Media was acquired by News Corp for $349 million
in cash.
HarperCollins Publishers is the second-largest consumer book
publisher in the world. In the most recent quarter, ending March
31, 2021, HarperCollins had 19% revenue growth, year-over-year, and
Segment EBITDA surged 45%, with both frontlist and backlist
performing strongly.
Headquartered in New York, HarperCollins has publishing
operations in 17 countries. With 200 years of history and more than
120 branded imprints around the world, HarperCollins publishes
approximately 10,000 new books every year in 16 languages, and has
a print and digital catalog of more than 200,000 titles. Writing
across dozens of genres, HarperCollins authors include winners of
the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the
Newbery and Caldecott Medals, and the Man Booker Prize.
HarperCollins has been home to authors who include Mark Twain, the
Brontë sisters, Thackeray, Dickens, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther
King Jr., Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein, and Margaret Wise
Brown.
About News Corp
News Corp (Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) is a global,
diversified media and information services company focused on
creating and distributing authoritative and engaging content and
other products and services. The company comprises businesses
across a range of media, including: digital real estate services,
subscription video services in Australia, news and information
services and book publishing. Headquartered in New York, News Corp
operates primarily in the United States, Australia, and the United
Kingdom, and its content and other products and services are
distributed and consumed worldwide. More information is available
at: http://www.newscorp.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements based on
current expectations or beliefs, as well as assumptions about
future events, and these statements are subject to factors and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those described in the forward-looking statements. The words
“expect,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “predict,” “believe,”
“potential” and similar expressions and variations thereof are
intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements
appear in a number of places in this release and include statements
with respect to, among other things, the potential benefits from,
the acquisition of the Books & Media segment of Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt. Readers are cautioned that any forward-looking
statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve
risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual results to
differ materially from those described in these forward-looking
statements. The forward-looking statements in this release speak
only as of this date and News Corp and HarperCollins undertake no
obligation (and expressly disclaim any obligation) to publicly
update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as
required by law.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210510005535/en/
News Corp Investor Relations Michael Florin 212-416-3363
mflorin@newscorp.com
News Corp Corporate Communications Jim Kennedy 212-416-4064
jkennedy@newscorp.com
Erin Crum HarperCollins Corporate Communications 212-207-7223
Erin.Crum@harpercollins.com
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