Time Warner Book Group acquired by Hachette

Time Warner Book Group acquired by Hachette

Feb 15 2006

Last week, Lagardère, the French owner of Hachette Publishing, acquired the Time Warner Book Group for $537.5m - about $235 million more than Bertelsmann and/or Perseus were willing to pay for TWBG in 2003. Since that time, TWBG has strung together two record-breaking years, helping to up the value of the company.

The purchase is set to close March 31st, at which time Lagardère's book publishing branch, which already owns Hodder Headline and Orion, will become the third largest in the world, the largest trade publisher in the UK and the fifth largest house in the USA.  Time Warner also operates in Australia and New Zealand, positioning the Lagardère Book Publishing unit as a leading publisher in these countries too.  The purchase is a major step in fulfilling Lagardhre's objective to create a balanced portfolio in three main languages, French, English and Spanish.

Finding a new name, and new offices, is a top priority, said TWBG chairman David Young, now in charge of  Lagardere's North American book operation. They can remain in  their current New York offices for up to a year, and the company has the right to use the Warner name for five years. Young said he was "very, very happy to be part of a company whose main objective is to publish books."

The deal does not put Time Warner completely out of the book business. They still owns Oxmoor House, Leisure Arts and Sunset Books, which are part of Time's Southern Progress subsidiary. Also excluded from the deal is the direct-mail driven Time Inc. Home Entertainment.

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