Penguin, Random House Ink Deal
Pearson PLC and Bertelsmann A.G., two of the world’s biggest media groups, agreed Monday on a plan to combine their book-publishing operations, Random House and Penguin.
German media giant Bertelsmann said Monday that it plans to create a joint venture between Random House and Pearson’s Penguin, with Bertelsmann taking a 53 percent stake in the new company and Pearson taking 47 percent. Bertelsmann and Pearson didn’t disclose the value of the joint venture, but a person familiar with the matter indicated that the equity valuation would be somewhere between $2 billion and $3 billion.
