Hachette Group To Purchase Hyperion Books

hyperion
The trend of consolidation continues in the trade book industry with news over the past couple of days that Hachette Book Group (a division of Hachette Livre) will purchase Disney Publishing Worldwide’s adult trade publishing imprint, Hyperion. Disney will hold on to some titles it believes fit better with its film and TV franchise, but the bulk of Hyperion’s adult trade list, including titles by Nigella Lawson and Mitch Albom, will move to Hachette. Hyperion has a particularly strong list of cookery, humour, self-help, pop culture and inspiration.
HACHETTE BOOK GROUP PURCHASES ADULT IMPRINT HYPERION BACKLIST AND TITLES FOR FUTURE PUBLICATION
Disney Publishing Worldwide Retains Disney-Hyperion for Children and Young Adults Disney and Hachette Book Group (HBG) announced today Hachette’s agreement to purchase Disney’s adult trade publishing imprint, Hyperion. When the acquisition is completed, HBG will become the publisher of more than 1,000 books published by the Hyperion adult trade book division since its inception in 1991, as well as approximately 25 books scheduled for future publication. Disney Publishing Worldwide (DPW), the world’s largest publisher and licensor of children’s books, will retain all of its Disney and Disney-Hyperion branded children’s and young adult book titles, and will publish franchise-based titles from Disney/ABC Television Group upon completion of the transaction.
A leading boutique trade book publisher, Hyperion has published more than 250 bestselling books, including numerous #1 New York Times bestsellers. Hyperion’s imprimatur has come to represent great commercial and media impact — from Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy with a foreword by Caroline Kennedy, to Jamie’s Food Revolution by Jamie Oliver, from Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven to Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture and Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox.
HBG will take on Hyperion’s extensive backlist, rich in the areas of inspiration, pop culture, cooking, humor, business, sports, history, self-help, fiction, and more, books that continue to sell year after year in a variety of formats and editions. The acquisition supports HBG’s overall strategic focus on growth and significantly expands the company’s backlist catalog and its nonfiction portfolio. HBG will also publish highly anticipated forthcoming books from award-winning journalist Joanne Lipman, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist J.R. Moehringer, actor Ethan Hawke, Don’t Know Much About series creator Kenneth Davis, and others.
The deal delivers on Disney’s strategy to focus efforts on franchise and synergy titles from its television business. DPW, publisher of books across Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm franchises, as well as from New York Times bestselling authors Mo Willems, Rick Riordan, Ridley Pearson, and Elizabeth Wein, will take on key ABC, ABC Family, and ESPN titles, including the New York Times bestselling Castle series, tie-in cookbooks to the popular daytime show The Chew, and the forthcoming book based on the Emmy-nominated television series Shark Tank.
“The addition of franchise-based titles from Disney/ABC Television Group will expand our breadth of bestselling content,” said Andrew Sugerman, executive vice president, Disney Publishing Worldwide. “We look forward to working with Disney/ABC to continue Disney Publishing’s proud tradition of bringing great stories to market in a variety of innovative ways.”
Hachette Book Group CEO Michael Pietsch said, “We welcome to HBG Hyperion’s many excellent writers, whose works we are proud to publish. Hyperion’s strong nonfiction list in particular is a perfect complement to HBG’s title portfolio. As Hyperion’s sales and distribution partner, we know the books and writers on the list well and look forward to taking on full publishing responsibilities. Disney Publishing Worldwide is one of HBG’s longtime distribution clients, and we are very pleased to continue our excellent relationship with DPW.”
About Hachette Book Group
Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a leading trade publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the second-largest trade and educational publisher in the world. HBG publishes under the divisions of Little, Brown and Company, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Grand Central Publishing, Orbit, Hachette Nashville, and Hachette Digital. For more information visit hachettebookgroup.com
About Disney Publishing Worldwide
Disney Publishing Worldwide (DPW) is the world’s largest publisher of children’s books and magazines, with over 700 million products sold each year. DPW consists of an extensive worldwide licensing structure as well as vertically integrated publishing imprints, including Disney Book Group in the U.S. and Disney Libri in Italy. DPW publishes a range of children’s magazines globally, as well as Disney kids’ magazines in the U.S. Disney English is DPW’s English-language learning business, which includes Disney English learning centers in China and a worldwide retail-licensing program. DPW’s digital products include bestselling ebook titles as well as original apps. Headquartered in Glendale, California, DPW publishes books, magazines, and digital products in 85 countries in 75 languages. For more information visit disneypublishing.com.
About Disney/ABC Television Group
The Disney/ABC Television Group is composed of The Walt Disney Company’s (NYSE: DIS) global entertainment and news television properties, owned television stations, and radio stations. This includes ABC Entertainment Group, ABC News, ABC Owned Television Stations Group, Disney Channels Worldwide, ABC Family, and SOAPnet, as well as Disney/ABC Domestic Television and Disney Media Distribution. The company’s 50% equity interest in A+E Networks rounds out the group’s portfolio of media businesses.
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One Comment;

  1. Ashley Blais said:

    To whom it may concern,
    Miramax books published a children’s book The Last Dragon translated from the Italian in 2007. It is an amazing book and the author Silvanna De Mari has written 3 more in the series. Nothing else has been translated into English, I think the book fell through the cracks in all the ownership changes Miramax has undergone. Please look at translating these books, they are modern classics.
    Thank you,
    Ashley Blais
    Director, Leverett Library
    Leverett Massachusetts

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