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Simon & Schuster, a publishing company owned by Paramount Global, has been sold to KKR & Co. Inc., a private equity firm based in New York. The companies reached an agreement for the acquisition worth $1.62 billion.
Paramount Global said on Monday, Aug. 7, it will sell Simon & Schuster to KKR, which is entering the book publishing market through this deal. The publishing house is one of the largest and most reputable ones in the publication industry in the United States, but the mass media and entertainment firm has been trying to sell it for months.
The transaction between Paramount Global and KKR PEF company comes several months after a court rejected the former’s merger with Penguin Random House. The company was supposed to sell it to Penguin, but a federal judge blocked it when they said the acquisition may result in unfair business within the publishing sector.
As per The New York Times, the acquisition of Simon & Schuster will put its new owner in control of well-known authors such as Stephen King. This is very beneficial to KKR, which is trying to expand its presence in the publishing industry.
Some of the major executives involved in Paramount Global and KKR’s deal for Simon & Schuster include Richard Sarnoff, the head of the private equity firm’s media, entertainment, and technology group and Ted Oberwager, a member of RBMedia’s board. Sarnoff previously worked for Bertelsmann, which owns Penguin Random House.
In any case, it was in 2020 when Simon & Schuster was first put up for sale and negotiations through the years apparently failed. Under its new owner, KKR, the employees of Simon & Schuster will be granted ownership stake in the company, and this is part of the deal.
BBC News reported that Paramount Global’s president, Bob Bakish, said that the money they will get from the sale of Simon & Schuster will give its entertainment business greater "financial flexibility." It will also provide the company with available cash for content production on its streaming service, Paramount+.
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