Random House was founded in 1927 by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, two years after they acquired the Modern Library imprint from publisher Horace Liveright, which reprints classic works of literature.
The acquisition of Smith and Haas added authors, including William Faulkner, Isak Dinesen, André Malraux, Robert Graves, and Jean de Brunhoff, who wrote the Babar children's books.
[13] In 1999, Random House acquired the children's audiobook publisher Listening Library,[14]and sold its distribution division.
[17] Coinciding with the 2007–2008 financial crisis, the publishing industry was hit hard with weak retail sales.
[18] In October 2008, Doubleday, a division of Random House, announced that they would lay off 16 people, representing approximately 10% of its workforce.
[20] There were layoffs at Doubleday, now part of Knopf Publishing Group, and Dial Press, Bantam Dell.
[23] The company also creates story content for media including video games, social networks on the web, and mobile platforms.
[24] In October 2012, Bertelsmann entered into talks with rival conglomerate Pearson plc, over the possibility of combining their respective publishing companies, Random House and Penguin Group.
At the time of the acquisition the combined companies controlled 25% of the book business with more than 10,000 employees and 250 independent publishing imprints and with about $3.9 billion in annual revenues.
According to Madeline McIntosh, chief executive of Penguin Random House U.S., the two lines "will retain their distinct editorial identities.
"[28] McIntosh explained some of the motivation behind the merger in a memo to employees, writing, "Book discovery and buying patterns continue to shift, resulting in growth opportunities in the nonfiction categories in which Crown in particular already has a strong foothold: food, lifestyle, health, wellness, business, and Christian.
[31][32] The publisher's main office in the United States is located in Penguin Random House Tower, which was constructed in 2009 at 1745 Broadway in Manhattan.
The building's lobby showcases floor-to-ceiling glassed-in bookcases, which are filled with books published by the company and its subsidiaries.
The Random House Group is one of the largest general book publishing companies in the United Kingdom;[citation needed] it is based in London.
It is headquartered in Barcelona with locations in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Uruguay, and the United States.
[41] Some Spanish-language authors published by Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial include Roberto Bolaño, Javier Marías, Mario Vargas Llosa and Guillermo Arriaga.
[citation needed] In April 2010, Random House Australia managing director, Margie Seale, was assigned the responsibilities of exploring and evaluating potential business opportunities for the company in Asia.
Random House's home video division was currently the distributor of some shows, such as Sesame Street (1986–1994), The Busy World of Richard Scarry (1993–2005), Arthur (1996–2006), and The Berenstain Bears, the original 1985–1987 animated television series (1989–2005, 2008–2009), and Golden Books (2001–2005).