Random House, Inc. is the world's largest English-language general trade book publisher. It has been owned since 1998 by the large German
private media corporation
Bertelsmann and has become the
umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a home video distribution arm,
Random House Home Video.
Random House, U.S.A.
Random House was founded in 1927 by Americans
Bennett Cerf, Christopher Coombes and
Donald Klopfer, two years after they acquired the
Modern Library imprint. Cerf is quoted as saying, "We just said we were going to publish a few books on the side at random," which suggested the name Random House.
Its
American divisions currently include the
Crown Publishing Group, the
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, the
Random House Audio Publishing Group, the Random House Publishing Group, and Random House Children's Books.
Del Rey Manga publishes
English manga in
North America.
Random House entered reference publishing in 1947 with the
American College Dictionary, which was followed in 1966 by its first unabridged
dictionary. Today it publishes the
Random House Dictionary of the English Language and
Random House Webster's College dictionaries, probably the main competitors for
Merriam-Webster reference titles.
The distinguished American publishers
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and
Pantheon Books were acquired by Random House in 1960 and 1961, respectively; works continue to be published under these imprints with editorial independence, such as
Everyman's Library, a series of classical literature reprints. Random House has been the distributor for
Shambhala Publications since 1974. They also currently distribute
Rizzoli Books,
National Geographic Books,
Steerforth Press,
Wizards of the Coast,
Vertical Books,
Welcome Books,
New York Review of Books,
Titan Books,
Other Press,
Hatherleigh Press,
North Atlantic Books,
Monacelli Press Books, and
DC Comics. In 1998,
Bertelsmann AG bought Random House and it soon went global.
The publisher's main U.S. office is located at 1745
Broadway in
Manhattan, in the 684-foot
Random House Tower, completed in 2003 and spanning the entire west side of the block between West
55th Street and west 56th. Its lobby showcases floor-to-ceiling glassed-in bookcases filled with books published by the company's many imprints.
Random House, UK
The Random House Group is one of the largest general book publishing companies in the UK. The Group is based in London and has subsidiary companies in Australia, New Zealand and India, with a joint venture in South Africa called Random House Struik.
The Group comprises six publishing companies with over 40 diverse and highly respected imprints and brand-name publishers including, Century, BBC Books, Jonathan Cape, William Heinemann, Chatto & Windus, Vintage, Corgi, Doubleday, Bantam Press and Virgin Books.
Random House’s non-fiction publishing consists of broad general non-fiction and specialist categories such as cookery, gardening, travel and business books. The Group’s classic backlist of over 6000 titles includes the works of Graham Greene, Iris Murdoch and Virginia Woolf amongst others. Random House Children’s Books publishes many bestselling writers including Philip Pullman and Jacqueline Wilson, the former Children’s Laureate. The Random House Group distribution business services its own imprints as well as 60 other UK publishers.
Other international branches
Verlagsgruppe Random House was established after Bertelsmann's 1998 acquisition of Random House, grouping its German imprints (until then operating as Verlagsgruppe Bertelsmann) under the new name. It is the second largest book publisher in
Germany with 42 imprints as of October 2009, including historic publishing houses
Goldmann and Heyne. It is headquartered in
Munich (with additional locations in
Gütersloh and
Cologne) and publishes roughly 2.500 titles per year.
Random House of Canada was established in 1944 as the Canadian distributor of Random House Books. In 1986 the company established its own indigenous Canadian publishing program that has become one of the most successful in Canadian history.
Random House also operates branches in
Australia,
New Zealand,
South Africa (as a joint venture under the name
Random House Struik), and
India as part of the overseas structure of The Random House Group Ltd. UK. In Australia offices are in
Sydney and
Melbourne. In New Zealand it is based in
Glenfield,
Auckland, while Random House's Indian headquarters are located in
New Delhi.
Random House Mondadori is Random House's Spanish-language joint venture with Italian publisher
Mondadori, targeting markets in South and Middle America and
Spain. It is headquartered in
Barcelona with locations in
Argentina,
Chile,
Colombia,
Mexico,
Uruguay, and
Venezuela.
What began in 2004 as a joint venture with
JoongAng M&B has been
Random House Korea since 2006. Together with the group's joint venture with Japanese publisher
Kodansha (under the name
Random House Kodansha) it makes up the
Random House Asia division.
Divisions and Imprints
Random House, U.S.A.
Crown Publishing GroupKnopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Random House Publishing Group
- Random House Trade Paperbacks
Random House Audio Publishing Group
- Random House Audio Assets
- Random House Audio Dimensions
- Random House Audio Voices
- Random House Audio Price-less
Random House Children's Books
- Random House Children's Books (Kids@Random)
Random House Information Group
- Random House Puzzles & Games
- Random House Reference Publishing
Random House Large Print
Random House International
- Verlagsgruppe Random House
See also
