Random House

In March 1998, Bertelsmann announced that it wanted to take over Random House.

The takeover caused a stir in the United States and was sometimes perceived as a threat,[8] as Bertelsmann had acquired an “important part of American culture”. At that time, Random House was generating $870 million in annual sales, making it the second-largest publisher in the country. The acquisition itself was initiated by Thomas Middelhoff, who later became CEO of Bertelsmann. Under his aegis, Random House was merged with the US publisher Bantam Doubleday Dell, in which the group had already invested in 1980. In addition, in 2001, the German publishing group Bertelsmann changed its name to the Random House publishing group, making Random House the global umbrella brand for all publishers.

The Penguin Random House publishing group was formed in 2013 through the merger of the book publishers Random House (which was already part of Bertelsmann at the time) and the Penguin Group (which was then owned by the British Pearson Group). Bertelsmann initially held a majority stake of 53 percent.

Random House began in 1927 as a subsidiary of Modern Library and eventually surpassed its parent company, with Modern Library becoming a publishing brand (book series) of Random House.