UTA announced that it has acquired literary agency Fletcher & Company. Founder and ceo Christy Fletcher will co-lead the UTA Publishing division along with current head Byrd Leavell, with both reporting to UTA President David Kramer. (Fletcher and Leavell had been colleagues at Carlisle and Company many years ago.) The entire team at Fletcher & […]
Finance
2022: The Year In Mergers
2022 was an odd year for publishing mergers, in multiple ways. In line with the larger market and the broader economy, the year started strong with a series of deals of note, following pandemic-driven strength. Then as interest rates rose and the economy cooled, deal activity got quiet quickly. Some of the year’s biggest deals […]
Pearson to Acquire PDRI
Pearson will acquire Personnel Decisions Research Institutes, which provides workforce assessment services, including to the US federal government. PDRI will join Pearson’s Assessment & Qualifications division. The companies have already partnered on assessments for federal jobseekers, and a release states, “This acquisition unlocks synergies between Pearson and PDRI, whilst bringing new capabilities for Pearson to […]
Canadian Distributor Thomas Allen to Close In 2023
After over a hundred years in business, Ontario-based distributor Thomas Allen & Son will close at the end of March 2023, when their relationship with Workman Publishing terminates. Since Workman accounted for a substantial portion of Allen’s business — and Hachette handles its own Canadian distribution — the company indicates the closure was set in […]
Hachette UK Acquires Welbeck Publishing
Hachette UK announced Monday the acquisition of Welbeck Publishing Group, in an agreement executed on November 30. The company was founded by Mark Smith and Marcus Leaver in 2019, beginning with the acquisition of Carlton Books (and expanded through a number of original imprints, plus the acquisition of Eddison Books in 2020, and the launch […]
European Commission Opens Investigation of Vivendi’s Lagardere Acquisition
After a preliminary review, the European Commission has formally “opened an in-depth investigation” to assess the competitive effects of Vivendi’s pending acquisition of Lagardere. They are “concerned that the proposed acquisition may reduce competition on a number of markets across the entire book value chain,” as well as in celebrity magazines (where the deal would […]