(Reuters) – HarperCollins Publishers and KKR & Co are among the bidders for book publisher Simon & Schuster as it pursues a sale for the second time in less than three years, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Reuters had in February reported that Paramount Global, the owner of Simon & Schuster, was again seeking to sell the publisher, months after the media company’s $2.2 billion deal to sell the book publisher to Penguin Random House collapsed.
Last year, the U.S. Justice Department sued to stop the tie-up of Penguin and Simon & Schuster, as a combined group would have accounted for nearly half of the market for publishing rights to blockbuster books.
HarperCollins, which is owned by News Corp, is betting that its bid won’t meet a similar fate, the WSJ report said.
HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment, while KKR declined to comment.
Paramount is exploring a sale that could value Simon & Schuster between $2 billion and $2.5 billion and was also courting private equity buyers, Reuters reported in February, citing sources.
(Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
