KKR has acquired Simon & Schuster, a general interest publishing company, from Paramount Global for $1.62 billion.
KKR aims to advance the company’s position as a publisher and distributor with more than 36,000 titles across adult, children, audio and international categories. In addition to investing in all areas to establish Simon & Schuster as a standalone entity, KKR intends to support growth initiatives, including extending Simon & Schuster’s strong domestic publishing program across various genres and categories, expanding its distribution relationships and driving growth in international markets. KKR will also support Simon & Schuster in creating a broad-based equity ownership program to provide all of the company’s more than 1,600 employees the opportunity to participate in the benefits of ownership.
“With KKR’s support, we look forward to collaborating on new strategies that will enhance our ability to provide readers a great array of books and to give authors the best possible publication they can receive,” says Jonathan Karp, president and CEO of Simon & Schuster.
LionTree Advisors is acting as financial advisor and Shearman & Sterling LLP is acting as legal advisor to Paramount. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is acting as legal advisor to KKR.