Paramount Global said Monday it had reached agreement to sell Simon & Schuster, a top US publisher, to private equity firm KKR for $1.62 billion.
The proposed sale, if it goes through, will end a years' long effort to sell the prestigious publishing house – whose authors include Stephen King, Colleen Hoover and Bob Woodward – after a tentative deal to sell the company to Penguin Random House for $2.18 billion foundered amid regulatory concerns.
"We are pleased to have reached an agreement on a transaction that delivers excellent value to Paramount shareholders while also positioning Simon & Schuster for its next phase of growth with KKR," Paramount Global president and CEO Bob Bakish said in a statement Monday.
After the purchase – which Paramount said will be made entirely in cash – Simon & Schuster will become a "standalone private company," according to the statement.
The publisher will retain its existing leadership. "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," Simon & Schuster president and CEO Jonathan Karp said in the statement.
The company is the fourth largest of America's "Big Five" publishing companies, which also include HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group USA and Macmillan Publishers.