Random House facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Random House

Logo with the 2014 Penguin Random House wordmark
Type	Division
Founded	1927; 98 years ago (1927)
Founders	Bennett Cerf, Donald Klopfer
Headquarters	Random House Tower, 1745 Broadway, New York City , U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Gina Centrello (president and publisher, The Random House Publishing Group) Barbara Marcus (president and publisher, Random House Children's Books) Nihar Malaviya (COO, Random House, Inc.)
Products	Books
Revenue	€2.142 billion (2012)
Number of employees	97,104 (as of September 30,  2020 (2020 -09-30)[update])
Parent	RCA (1965–1980) Advance Publications (1980–1998) Bertelsmann (1998–present)

Random House is a very well-known book publisher. It is part of a larger company called Penguin Random House. Random House started in 1927, founded by two businessmen, Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer.

At first, it was just a small part of another publisher called Modern Library. But Random House quickly grew bigger than Modern Library. Over many years, Random House bought other publishing companies. This made it one of the biggest publishers in the United States.

In 2013, Random House joined with another big publisher, Penguin Group. Together, they formed Penguin Random House. This huge company is owned by Bertelsmann, a media company from Germany. Random House still publishes books under its own name, including books for kids through Random House Children's Books.

Template:TOC limit=3

The History of Random House

How Random House Started

Random House was created in 1927 by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. They had already bought a company called Modern Library, which printed classic books. Cerf once said they wanted to publish "a few books on the side at random." This is how the name Random House came to be!

In 1934, Random House published the first official English version of a famous book called Ulysses. This book helped Random House become a very important publisher. In 1936, they bought another company, Smith and Haas. This added famous authors like William Faulkner and the creator of the Babar children's books to their list.

Random House also hired talented editors who brought in more popular authors. In 1947, they started publishing reference books with the American College Dictionary. Later, in 1966, they released their first very large, complete dictionary.

Growing Bigger in the 20th Century

In 1959, Random House became a public company. This meant people could buy shares of the company. Other publishers soon followed this trend. Random House continued to grow by buying other publishers. They bought Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and Beginner Books in 1960. Then, they bought Pantheon Books in 1961. These companies still publish books today, often with their own unique style.

In 1965, a company called RCA bought Random House. This was part of RCA's plan to own many different types of businesses. Random House later bought Ballantine Books, a company that published paperback books, in 1973. In 1980, RCA sold Random House to Advance Publications. Random House also started publishing audiobooks in 1985.

In 1988, Random House bought Crown Publishing Group. Around the same time, another company, McGraw-Hill, bought Random House's school and college textbook division. In 1998, a German company called Bertelsmann AG bought Random House. They combined it with other publishers like Bantam Doubleday Dell. This helped Random House become a global company. In 1999, Random House bought Listening Library, a children's audiobook publisher.

Random House in the 21st Century

In 2003, Random House started distributing books again for other publishers. The publishing world faced challenges during the 2008 financial crisis, with fewer books being sold. In 2008, Random House made some changes to its structure and divisions.

Random House also has a part of the company called Random House Studio. This group creates films and TV shows based on books. For example, they released the movie One Day in 2011. The company also creates stories for video games and social media.

Random House is one of the largest publishers of books in English. It is part of a group of publishers sometimes called the "Big Five." In 2012, Bertelsmann, the owner of Random House, talked with Pearson plc, the owner of Penguin Group. They discussed combining their publishing companies.

On July 1, 2013, the merger was completed. The new company was named Penguin Random House. Bertelsmann owned most of the new company. By April 2020, Bertelsmann owned all of Penguin Random House. When they merged, the combined companies controlled a large part of the book business. They had over 10,000 employees and 250 different publishing brands. This big merger helped them compete with online sellers like Amazon.com and deal with changes in bookstores.

In 2018, Penguin Random House combined two of its main publishing lines: Random House and Crown Publishing Group. This was done to help them grow in areas like food, health, and business books. In 2019, Penguin Random House bought Little Tiger Group, a British children's book publisher. This company became part of Random House Children's Books. In 2024, Penguin Random House announced plans to buy Boom! Studios, a comic book publisher.

How Random House is Organized

Main Offices

The main office for Random House in the United States is in the Penguin Random House Tower. This tall building was built in 2009 in New York City. It has a cool lobby with glass bookcases filled with books published by the company.

International Locations

Random House has offices and companies all over the world.

The Random House Group is one of the biggest book publishers in the United Kingdom. It is based in London. This group includes many different publishing companies. They also help distribute books for other UK publishers.

The Random House Group also has offices in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and India. In Australia, their offices are in Sydney and Melbourne. In New Zealand, they are in Glenfield, Auckland. Random House's main office in India is in New Delhi.

In Germany, there is a company called Verlagsgruppe Random House. It is the second largest book publisher in Germany. It has over 40 different publishing brands. This group is headquartered in Munich. Since April 2020, it is fully part of the main Penguin Random House company.

Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial is Random House's division for books in Spanish. It publishes books for readers in Spain and many countries in Hispanic America. Its main office is in Barcelona. It also has offices in countries like Argentina, Chile, and Mexico.

Random House of Canada started in 1944. At first, it distributed Random House books in Canada. In 1986, it began publishing its own Canadian books. It has become very successful in Canadian publishing.

Random House also had joint ventures in Japan and Korea, but these partnerships ended in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

Random House Home Video

Random House Home Video was a part of Random House that released videos for home viewing. It started in 1983. This division distributed popular TV shows like Sesame Street (from 1986 to 1994), The Busy World of Richard Scarry (from 1993 to 2005), and Arthur (from 1996 to 2006). It also distributed the original 1985 The Berenstain Bears animated series. Random House Home Video stopped actively releasing new videos around 2005.

See also

In Spanish: Random House para niños

• List of English language book publishers
• List of largest UK book publishers
• Media of New York City
• Western Publishing