If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. The 2014 deal for Hachette to purchase Perseus eventually fell apart, but the parties announced this week they’re ready for “take two” on the deal.
On Tuesday, Hachette – the publisher of novelists Donna Tartt and Nicholas Sparks, among many other bestselling authors – said it plans to acquire Perseus Books Group, the publisher of George Soros and John Kerry. The move will aim to extend Hachette’s reach into the nonfiction market.
And late Thursday, the other half of the thwarted 2014 deal also returned to life with Ingram picking up the distribution side of Perseus (Publishers Group West; Consortium Book Sales & Distribution; Perseus Distribution; and Legato). The deal, said CEO John Ingram, “supports Ingram’s transformation to a more comprehensive provider of global publisher services.”
“Hachette Book Group CEO Michael Pietsch said he has no plans to make major changes in Perseus’s publishing operations, which puts out about 500 new titles annually and has a backlist of approximately 6,000 titles,” reports Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer.
“Working in Perseus’s favor, the company has done well since the 2014 deal collapsed, no doubt aided by the resurgence of print,” he tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.
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