Bloomsbury Publishing

This article is about the contemporary publishing company. For the historic literary group, see Bloomsbury Group.
Bloomsbury Publishing
Traded as LSE: BMY
Founded 26 September 1986
Founder Nigel Newton
Country of origin United Kingdom
Headquarters location London
Key people Sir Anthony Salz
(Chairman)[1]
Nigel Newton
(Chief Executive)
Publication types books, academic journals, magazines
Imprints A & C Black, Berg
Revenue £100 million
Official website Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury Publishing plc is an independent, worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction with its headquarters in the London Borough of Camden, and publishing offices in London, Oxford, New York, Sydney, and Delhi. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. The company's growth over the past decade is primarily attributable to the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. Bloomsbury was named Publisher of the Year in 1999 and 2000 by the British book industry. It published The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson, which won the 2010 Man Booker Prize.

History

The company was founded in 1986 by Nigel Newton, who had previously been employed by other publishing companies. It was floated as a public registered company in 1994, raising £5.5million, which was used to fund expansion of the company into paperback and children's books. A rights issue of shares in 1998 raised a further £6.1m, which was used to expand the company, in particular to found a U.S. branch.

In 1998, Bloomsbury USA was established, Bloomsbury USA Books for Young Readers in 2002, and in 2005, Bloomsbury acquired Walker & Co, a small company dedicated to publishing nonfiction.[2]

In 2000, Bloomsbury acquired A&C Black Plc, and in 2002 acquired Whitaker's Almanack.

In 2007, Bloomsbury published Bloomsbury 21, a reprint series of 21 of its most popular books to celebrate its 21st anniversary.

In 2008, Bloomsbury opened a branch in Doha, Qatar, under joint-partnership with Qatar Foundation. The new publishing house, called Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, will work mainly with English and Arabic literature and with translations from English into Arabic and vice versa.

Since September 2008, Bloomsbury collaborate with Waterstones to distribute e-books of their licences. The Harry Potter novels are not included in the line-up.[3]

Corporate affairs

Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bedford Square in the London Borough of Camden. Its USA publishing office is located in at 1385 Broadway, New York City. Its Australia sales office is in the Sydney CBD. Its New Delhi publishing office is in the Vishrut Building (Building No. 3) in the DDA Complex in Vasant Kunj.[4]

Divisions

Bloomsbury Publishing group has four separate publishing divisions — Academic & Professional; Adult; Children's and Educational; and Information and Business Development — supported by group functions, namely Sales and Marketing, Finance and Technology. Imprints and book lists of publishing businesses acquired by Bloomsbury are assigned to the most relevant publishing division.

Acquisitions

Among the companies Bloomsbury has acquired are:[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.thebookseller.com/news/rothschilds-salz-appointed-bloomsbury-chairman.html
  2. ↑ http://www.bloomsburyusa.com/about
  3. ↑ http://www.thebookseller.com/news/119581-rowling-opens-door-to-digital-harry-potter-books.html
  4. ↑ "Contact Us." Bloomsbury Publishing. Retrieved on 13 October 2012. "50 Bedford Square London WC1B 3DP"
  5. ↑ "Corporate history - Corporate and Investor Relations - Bloomsbury.com". Retrieved 2015-01-19.

External links