Pearson wins Dorling Kindersley

Dorling Kindersley, the book publisher brought to its knees by wildly overestimating the popularity of last year's Star Wars film, yesterday agreed to a pounds 311m bid from media group Pearson. Mr Kindersley, 58, who founded the company in 1974 with Christopher Dorling said there had been seve...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Guardian (London)
Main Author Teather, David
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London (UK) Guardian News & Media Limited 01.04.2000
Subjects
Acquisitions & mergers
Publishing industry
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Summary:Dorling Kindersley, the book publisher brought to its knees by wildly overestimating the popularity of last year's Star Wars film, yesterday agreed to a pounds 311m bid from media group Pearson. Mr Kindersley, 58, who founded the company in 1974 with Christopher Dorling said there had been several bidders but added that Pearson was `overwhelmingly the most sensible company to sell to'. Other bidders were thought to include Flextech, Granada, Bertelsman and Hachette, the French publisher. Dorling Kindersley horrified investors at the beginning of the year when it warned that it had been left with 10m copies of unsold books on Star Wars - The Phantom Menace. Mr Kindersley said the Star Wars episode had been a `wake-up call' but maintained it had not been the reason for the sale of the business.
ISSN:0261-3077