Paramount Global Sells Off Star Trek Publisher Simon & Schuster
Images: Simon & Schuster / KKR / Paramount Global.
August 14, 2023 – Simon and Schuster has been publishing Star Trek tie-in fiction under various imprints, such as Pocket Books and Gallery Books, since 1979, beginning with Gene Roddenberry’s novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. (Star Trek tie-ins generally date back to 1967, with James Blish’s short story treatments of Star Trek: The Original Series episodes, published by Bantam Books.) Last week, it was announced that Paramount Global, the parent company of Simon & Schuster, had reached a deal to sell the publisher to the private equity firm, KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts).
According to the New York Times, the deal is worth $1.62 billion and follows a failed attempt to sell Simon & Schuster, which had been for sale since 2020, to Penguin Random House, due to the federal government’s antitrust concerns. The sale to an equity firm, rather than another publisher, appears to avoid consolidation and job redundancies that otherwise might have happened. Simon & Schuster employees will also receive an ownership stake in the company as part of the deal. One of the risks is the amount of debt that the equity firm uses to finance the purchase.
According to Deadline, Paramount said that after the transaction closes, the publisher will become a standalone private company. Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish said, “The proceeds will give Paramount additional financial flexibility and greater ability to create long-term value for shareholders.”
For Simon & Schuster’s part, President and CEO Jonathan Karp said, “With KKR’s support, we look forward to collaborating on new strategies that will enhance our ability to provide readers a great array of books and to give authors the best possible publication they can receive.”
It is not clear what, if any, effect the sale of Simon Schuster will have on its plans for the Star Trek line, though generally speaking, KKR adviser Richard Sarnoff said he didn’t expect the deal to have any effect on Simon & Schuster’s authors. And sources note that Simon & Schuster’s Star Trek license is still active, and there are Trek books in process for release in 2024.
For more on Paramount Global’s sale of Star Trek publisher Simon & Schuster, head over to the New York Times and Deadline.
David is a contributing writer for Daily Star Trek News on the Roddenberry Podcast Network. He is a librarian, baseball fan, and book and movie buff. He has also written for American Libraries and Skeptical Inquirer. David also enjoys diverse music, but leans toward classical and jazz. He plays a mean radio.
