HarperCollins agrees purchase of Egmont Books UK to create UK’s largest children’s publisher
HarperCollins has announced that it has agreed to purchase Egmont Books UK at the end of April, to create what will be the UK’s largest children’s publisher.
The move combines the publisher of David Walliams with the publisher of Michael Morpurgo, Lemony Snicket and Fireman Sam, giving a combined revenue in 2019 of £58.6m, moving it a slim paperback ahead of PRH Children’s UK.
Egmont is reported to be remaining as a stand-alone imprint, where it will join the other HCCB imprints including Harper Festival, HarperTeen, HarperTrophy, Collins, Greenwillow Books, Katherine Tegan Books and Walden Pond Press.
The Egmont Group, which was first founded in 1878 as a one-person operation in Denmark, currently employs over 6,000 people and has wide-ranging media interests in Scandinavia, including magazines, comics, cinemas and TV stations.
