Paramount has completed the $1.62 billion sale of book publisher Simon & Schuster to investment firm KKR, nearly a year after a richer sale to Penguin Random House ran aground over regulatory issues.
The all-cash transaction, announced last August, makes Simon & Schuster a stand-alone private company and the only independent major trade publisher.
Last year, a judge in an antitrust case ruled against the pending $2.2 billion acquisition by a direct competitor, citing monopoly concerns and negative potential impact on customers and other publishers.
The deal was then officially jettisoned last November, with Bertelsmann’s Penguin Random House paying Paramount a $200 million breakup fee.
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