HarperCollins officially acquires Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media
HarperCollins Publishers, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, agreed to purchase the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media trade division in March for a reported $349 million. That transaction became official on Monday after what was a fairly brief review process.
In a memo to employees on Monday morning, HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray said there “is much to be done over the coming months” and celebrated HMH’s “storied history of publishing award-winning authors:
Today we completed the acquisition of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) Books & Media, and I am excited to welcome the HMH team to the HarperCollins family.
Like HarperCollins, HMH has a long and storied history of publishing award-winning authors. There are many outstanding titles — from children’s classics to contemporary fiction and lifestyle works — that can benefit from our combined experience and global reach. I am especially pleased to be uniting the J.R.R. Tolkien publishing program under one roof and eager to see how we can work together to strengthen our IP and production projects.
Although HarperCollins is already the second-largest publisher in the United States, this deal did not receive the same level of scrutiny as Penguin Random House’s acquisition of Simon &…
