Consolidation In The Book & Media World

Hachette Book Group announced it is buying Hyperion from Walt Disney Company’s trade book publishing division.  Random House and Penguin announced plans last year to merge and just signed the papers to make it official. We may be seeing an increase in mergers, given the transition publishing is going through.

With any acquisition, there is duplication.  Some people will lose their jobs and some things will change.  New eyes usually take a scissor to the newly acquired toy.  On the other hand, maybe change is good.  Perhaps linking two publishers together will infuse fresh ideas and new marketing tactics.

Disney will retain its Disney and Disney-Hyperion branded children’s and young adult book titles, so it will be interesting to see how they grow absent the other line of books.

In the media, a number of newspapers are up for sale, but it doesn’t stop them from buying up TV stations. Tribune Media just bought 19 TV stations, making it the largest owner of local commercial TV outlets. Last month Gannett bought Belo, bringing in 20 TV stations under its umbrella. 

Just as others merge together, some are breaking apart. News Corp just spun off 21^st Century Fox, to separate its movies from publishing and news media. Fox TV, Fox sports Network and 20^th Century fox Film are in one firm; Wall Street Journal, NY Post, Harper Collins and an education division are in another firm. Will they eventually sell these properties? Who knows?

You never know what to expect in the media/entertainment arena, but it seems clear that mergers and acquisitions will be busy for time to come.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2013