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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
Privately held company

The term privately held company refers to the ownership of a business company in two different ways: first, referring to ownership by non-governmental organizations; and second, referring to ownership of the company's stock by a relatively small number of holders who do not trade the stock publicly on the stock market....
 media corporation Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann

Bertelsmann AG is a transnational mass media corporation founded in 1835, based in G?tersloh, Germany. The company operates in 63 countries and employs 102,397 workers ....
 and has become the umbrella brand
Umbrella brand

An umbrella brand is a brand that covers diverse kinds of products which are more or less related.It applies also to any company that is identified only by its brand and history....
 for Bertelsmann book publishing.

andom House was founded in 1927 by Americans Bennett Cerf
Bennett Cerf

Bennett Alfred Cerf was a publisher and co-founder of Random House, also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearances lecturing across the United States, and for his television appearances in the panel game show What's My Line?....
, Christopher Coombes and Donald Klopfer, two years after they acquired the Modern Library
Modern Library

The Modern Library, a current division of Random House publishers, was founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright. It was bought in 1925 by Bennett Cerf....
 imprint
Imprint

In the publishing industry, an imprint can refer to two different things:* It can mean a brand name under which a work is published. One single publishing company may have multiple imprints; the different imprints are used by the publisher to marketing the work to different demographic consumer market segment....
.






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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
Privately held company

The term privately held company refers to the ownership of a business company in two different ways: first, referring to ownership by non-governmental organizations; and second, referring to ownership of the company's stock by a relatively small number of holders who do not trade the stock publicly on the stock market....
 media corporation Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann

Bertelsmann AG is a transnational mass media corporation founded in 1835, based in G?tersloh, Germany. The company operates in 63 countries and employs 102,397 workers ....
 and has become the umbrella brand
Umbrella brand

An umbrella brand is a brand that covers diverse kinds of products which are more or less related.It applies also to any company that is identified only by its brand and history....
 for Bertelsmann book publishing.

Random House, U.S.A.

Random House was founded in 1927 by Americans Bennett Cerf
Bennett Cerf

Bennett Alfred Cerf was a publisher and co-founder of Random House, also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearances lecturing across the United States, and for his television appearances in the panel game show What's My Line?....
, Christopher Coombes and Donald Klopfer, two years after they acquired the Modern Library
Modern Library

The Modern Library, a current division of Random House publishers, was founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright. It was bought in 1925 by Bennett Cerf....
 imprint
Imprint

In the publishing industry, an imprint can refer to two different things:* It can mean a brand name under which a work is published. One single publishing company may have multiple imprints; the different imprints are used by the publisher to marketing the work to different demographic consumer market segment....
. 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
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 imprints currently include the Bantam
Bantam Books

Bantam Books is a major U.S. publishing house owned by Random House and is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B....
 Dell Publishing
Dell Publishing

Dell Publishing was an American publisher of books, magazines, and comic books. It was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr.. During the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, Dell was one of the largest publishers of magazines, including pulp magazines....
 Group, the Crown Publishing Group
Crown Publishing Group

The Crown Publishing Group is a subsidiary of Random House, the world's largest book publisher. Its imprints include Crown Books, Crown Business, Crown Forum, Three Rivers Press, Clarkson Potter, Harmony Books, Shaye Areheart, and Bell Tower Press....
 including Three Rivers Press
Three Rivers Press

Three Rivers Press is the trade paperback imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House. It publishes reprints of books issued initially in hardcover by the other Crown imprints, as well as original paperback titles....
, the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, the Knopf Publishing Group, the Random House Audio Publishing Group, the Random House Diversified Publishing Group, the Random House Information Group, the Random House Ballantine Publishing Group
Ballantine Books

The Ballantine Publishing Group, better known as Ballantine Books, is a major American book publisher founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973 and remains part of that company today....
, and Random House Ventures. Del Rey Manga
Del Rey Manga

is the manga-publishing imprint of Del Rey Books, a branch of Ballantine Books, which in turn is part of Random House, the publishing division of Bertelsmann....
 publishes English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
 manga
Manga

, , are comics and print cartoons , in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 20th century. In their modern form, manga date from shortly after World War II, but they have a long, complex pre-history in earlier Japanese art....
 in North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
.

Random House entered reference publishing in 1947 with the American College Dictionary, which was followed in 1966 by its first unabridged dictionary
Dictionary

A dictionary is a book of Alphabetical order listed words in a specific language, with definitions, etymologies, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of alphabetically listed words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon....
. Today it publishes the Random House Dictionary of the English Language
Random House Dictionary of the English Language

The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged was the original name of a large American dictionary, first published in 1966, and recently renamed the Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary....
 and Random House Webster's College dictionaries, probably the main competitors for Merriam-Webster
Merriam-Webster

Merriam?Webster, which was originally the G. & C. Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, is an United States company that publishes reference books, especially dictionary that are descendants of Noah Webster An American Dictionary of the English Language ....
 reference titles.

The distinguished American publishers Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf

Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. is a New York City publishing house, founded by Alfred A. Knopf in 1915. It was acquired by Random House in 1960 and is now part of the Knopf Publishing Group at Random House....
, Inc. and Pantheon Books
Pantheon Books

Pantheon Books is an United States imprint with editorial independence that is part of the Knopf Publishing Group, which was acquired by Random House in 1960....
 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
Everyman's Library

Everyman's Library is a series of reprinted Western canon literature currently published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. in the United States, and Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the United Kingdom....
, a series of classical literature reprints. Random House has been the distributor for Shambhala Publications
Shambhala Publications

Shambhala Publications is an independent publishing company based in Boston, Massachusetts. According to the company, it specializes in "books that present creative and conscious ways of transforming the individual, the society, and the planet"....
 since 1974. They also currently distribute Rizzoli Books, National Geographic Books, Steerforth Press, Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coast is an United States publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes. Originally a basement-run role-playing game publisher, the company popularized the collectible card game genre with Magic: The Gathering in the mid-1990s, acquired the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by pur...
, Vertical Books, Welcome Books, New York Review of Books, Titan Books
Titan Books

Titan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. It is based at offices in London's Bankside area, close to Tate Modern....
, Other Press, Hatherleigh Press and DC Comics
DC Comics

DC Comics is one of the largest and most popular American comic book and related media companies, along with Marvel Comics. A subsidiary of Warner Bros....
. In 1998, Bertelsmann AG bought Random House and it soon went global.

The publisher's main U.S. office is located at 1745 Broadway
Broadway (New York City)

Broadway, as the name implies, is a wide avenue in New York City. While New York has several other Broadways, in the context of the city it usually refers to the Manhattan street....
 in Manhattan
Manhattan

Manhattan is one of the five borough of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.With a United States Census of 1,620,867 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles , Manhattan, coextensive with New York County, is the most population density county in the United States, w...
, in the 684-foot Random House Tower
Random House Tower

The Random House Tower and Park Imperial is a 52-story mixed use tower in New York City that is used as the headquarter of Random House and a luxury apartment complex called Park Imperial....
, completed in 2003 and spanning the entire west side of the block between West 55th Street
55th Street (Manhattan)

55th Street is a two-mile-long, One-way traffic street traveling east to west across Midtown Manhattan.East to WestEast 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 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 is the second largest book publisher in Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 with 40 imprints as of September 2008, including historic publishing houses Goldmann
Goldmann (publisher)

Goldmann is one of the largest publishing houses in Germany.Founded on 21 June 1922 by Wilhelm Goldmann in Leipzig, the first works to be published were the detective stories of Edgar Wallace....
 and Heyne. It is headquartered in Munich
Munich

Munich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. Munich is located on the River Isar north of the Northern Limestone Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg....
.

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 , New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
, South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
, India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
 and South Korea
South Korea

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea , ), often referred to as Korea and the "names of Korea#Revival of the names", is a Semi-presidential system republic in East Asia, located in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula....
. In Australia offices are in Sydney
Sydney

Sydney is the List of cities in Australia by population in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.34 million . It is the List of Australian capital cities of New South Wales, and was the site of the first British Empire colony in Australia....
 and Melbourne
Melbourne

Melbourne is the more common name for the geographic region and Census in Australia of the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area. It is the second List of cities in Australia by population in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million and serves as the List of Australian capital cities of Victoria ....
. In New Zealand it is based in Glenfield
Glenfield, New Zealand

Glenfield is a suburb of North Shore, New Zealand, one of several cities in the Auckland metropolitan area in northern New Zealand. It is located to the north of the Waitemata Harbour, nine kilometres northwest of the Auckland city centre....
, Auckland
Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area or Greater Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban areas of New Zealand with over 1.3 million residents, percent of the country's population....
, while Random House's Indian headquarters are located in New Delhi
New Delhi

New Delhi is the capital city of India. With a total area of 42.7 km2, New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi and serves as the seat of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi ....
.

Subsidiaries and affiliates

  • Anchor Books
  • Ballantine Books
    Ballantine Books

    The Ballantine Publishing Group, better known as Ballantine Books, is a major American book publisher founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973 and remains part of that company today....
  • Bantam Books
    Bantam Books

    Bantam Books is a major U.S. publishing house owned by Random House and is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B....
  • BBC Books
    BBC Books

    BBC Books is an imprint majority owned and managed by Random House. The minority shareholder is BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC....
  • Chatto and Windus
    Chatto and Windus

    Chatto and Windus has been, since 1987, an imprint of Random House, publishers. It was originally an important publisher of books in London, founded in the Victorian era by Andrew Chatto ....
  • Corgi
  • Del Rey Books
    Del Rey Books

    Del Rey Books is a branch of Ballantine Books, which is owned by Random House. It is a separate imprint established in 1977 under the editorship of author Lester del Rey and his wife Judy-Lynn del Rey....
  • Dell Publishing
    Dell Publishing

    Dell Publishing was an American publisher of books, magazines, and comic books. It was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr.. During the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, Dell was one of the largest publishers of magazines, including pulp magazines....
  • The Doubleday Publishing Group
  • Ebury Press
  • Everyman Chess
    Everyman Chess

    Everyman Chess is a major publisher of books and CDs about chess. The company was formerly called Cadogan Chess. "Everyman" is a registered trademark of Random House and the company headquarters is in London....
  • Random House Children's Books
  • Strivers Row
  • Time Out
    Time out

    The word time out, time-out, timeout may refer to:* Time-out , a break in a sport play that may be called by a side* Timeout , the costumed mascot of California State University, Fresno...
  • Villard
    Villard (imprint)

    Villard, also known as Villard Books, is a publishing imprint of Random House....
     (1983)
  • Virgin Books
    Virgin Books

    Virgin Books is a United Kingdom book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company....
  • Waterbrook Press
  • Western Publishing Company (co-owner with Classic Media
    Classic Media

    Classic Media, Inc. is an United States production company/distributor of family programming, acquired in 2007 by UK-based rival Entertainment Rights....
    )
  • Xlibris
    Xlibris

    Xlibris is a Philadelphia-based self-publishing and print on demand services provider founded in 1997. In 2000, Random House bought 49% of the company....


Imprints

  • Broadway Books
  • Century
  • Del Rey Manga
    Del Rey Manga

    is the manga-publishing imprint of Del Rey Books, a branch of Ballantine Books, which in turn is part of Random House, the publishing division of Bertelsmann....
     (itself an imprint of Del Rey Books)
  • Pimlico
  • Rider
    Rider (imprint)

    Rider is a publishing imprint of Ebury Publishing, a Random House division. The list was started by William Rider & Son in United Kingdom in 1908 when he took over the occult publisher Phillip Wellby....
  • Vermillion
  • Yearling


See also

  • Media of New York City
    Media of New York City

    The media of New York City are internationally influential, and include some of the most important newspapers, largest publishing houses, most prolific television studios, and biggest record companies in the world....
  • List of largest UK book publishers
    List of largest UK book publishers

    A list of the ten largest book publishers in the UK with some of their principal imprints, ranked by sales value in 2007 according to Nielsen BookScan:...


External links