Baker & Taylor is a distributor of books and entertainment, in business for over 180 years.[1] Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and privately owned, in 2006 it had $2.2 billion in sales, employed 3,750 and was # 181 on Forbes list of privately owned companies.[2] Baker & Taylor's core business distributes media - books, calendars, music and DVDs to libraries throughout the world. Its retail unit distributes approximately 1 million book titles and 311,000 CDs and DVDs to retail booksellers - both physical stores and internet operations.[3] Castle Harlan Partners is the majority owner of Baker & Taylor, having acquired it from the investment firm Willis Stein & Partners.[3][4] In 1994, it had been acquired by the Follett Corporation of River Grove, Ill.. from the then majority holder, the Carlyle Group, which sold its interest to concentrate on the defense industry.[5] Baker & Taylor paid $3 million to the US government in 1999 to settle a federal lawsuit claiming that it had overcharged the federal government, and state and local libraries using federal funds, after it had been sold by its then parent W. R. Grace and Company in March, 1992.[6] Jack Eugster is chairman and chief executive officer, having succeeded Richard Willis on January 4, 2008.[7]
Baker & Taylor publishes books under the Thunder Bay Press, Silver Dolphin Books, and Portable Press imprints.