[1] It was founded in 1925 after buying rights to publications from the Danish publishing house Gyldendal, which the company also takes it name from.

Harald Grieg had a central role in this operation and became the new company's director, and Knut Hamsun provided significant capital and became its largest shareholder.

Gyldendal owns 50% of Kunnskapsforlaget, along with Aschehoug, which publishes encyclopedias, dictionaries and other reference books, including the Store norske leksikon.

Gyldendal ASA (OSE: GYL) is a Norwegian holding company active in the publishing sector.

The company is operational through Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS, a wholly owned publishing house plus four other principal subsidiaries: Ark Bokhandel AS, a wholly owned book store;[4] Kunnskapsforlaget ANS, a 50%-owned book company that specializes in dictionaries and encyclopedias;[5] Forlagssentralen ANS, 50%-owned company which manages the Company's logistics and transport operations,[6] and De norske Bokklubbene AS, a 48.5%-owned book club.