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The Merger Has Been Finalized – Random Penguin Solutions is Born

random penguin solutions Bertelsmann and Pearson have officially announced today that they have completed all the steps required to merge 2 of the world’s largest publishing conglomerates into an even more unwieldy monolith.

Random Penguin Solutions will be jointly owned by Pearson and Bertelsmann, with the latter controlling 53% of the new company.

Random House CEO Markus Dohle will serve as CEO of Random Penguin Solutions and John Makinson, who has headed Penguin since 2002, is the new company’s Chairman of the Board of Directors. The HQ for the new company will follow publishing industry standard practice of wasting money on real estate and be located in New York City. Random Penguin Solutions will employ more than 10,000 people on 6 continents, and it will publish nearly 250 imprints every year. Collected revenues are expected to reach $3.9 billion this year.

The merger follows approval by regulators in the US, Canada, EU, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia. US approval was dependent on Random Penguin Solutions complying with Penguin-DOJ settlement over Agency Price Fixing lawsuit, meaning that all titles published by the new company will be sold on the wholesale model rather than with price controls.

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Comments


Beth July 1, 2013 um 10:05 am

I have actually gotten confused about what the official name of the company is, since so many people online refer to it as Random Penguin. I just had to Google it to find the real name. I think Random Penguin Solutions is better.

Nate Hoffelder July 1, 2013 um 10:08 am

I use the longer name for my own amusement, but I do think that the less offensive Random penguin is better than the official name. Random penguin simply rolls of the tongue better than Penguin Random House.

Robert Nagle July 1, 2013 um 11:02 am

Count me as "greatly amused" as well. Anyway, what the heck was "Random House" supposed to mean anyway?

Nate Hoffelder July 1, 2013 um 11:48 am

I don’t know what Random House is supposed to mean, either.

Pete Morin July 1, 2013 um 4:18 pm

Haven’t you at least once in your life stumbled into a random house and passed out? I know I have…. but that was many years ago.

RebeccaT July 1, 2013 um 8:27 pm

Did you see any penquins there when you woke up? If so, you probably hit your head pretty hard after you passed out.

The logo is funny.
Random penguin in a house? Would you, could you with a mouse?


Brian July 1, 2013 um 10:16 am

I see their titles are already starting to be discounted by retailers.


Colleen July 1, 2013 um 11:39 am

I got an email this AM from Marcus Dohle:

MARKUS DOHLE
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
MEMBER OF THE BERTELSMANN MANAGEMENT SE EXECUTIVE BOARD

Darn! The letterhead didn’t paste in, but it says "Penguin Random House" and he refers to it by that name in the letter. Quite a mouthfull. But, ha ha Penguin, I have an account with Random House, as you know, and now I can order books from you. (Penguin didn’t like the idea of my bookstore in MX)


Caleb July 1, 2013 um 1:07 pm

I for one prefer my penguin solutions not to be random.


Tyler July 1, 2013 um 4:04 pm

I want them to be called Penguin House!

Colleen July 1, 2013 um 4:40 pm

That’s good. I like it. So easy to pronounce.


Pete Morin July 1, 2013 um 4:20 pm

To the question of how RH got its name:

From wiki:

Random House was founded in 1927 by Americans Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, two years after they acquired the Modern Library imprint, reprints of classic works of literature, from publisher Horace Liveright. Cerf is quoted as saying, "We just said we were going to publish a few books on the side at random," which suggested the name Random House.[2]


Amazon threatens livelihood via form letter; I respond – Caveat Lector October 14, 2013 um 1:13 am

[…] very large publisher. I may have taken liberties with their actual name, but I think it was Nate Hoffelder who said it first, so blame […]


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