Rupert Murdoch now controls half of Christian publishing market
HarperCollins have now confirmed their acquisition of Christian publisher Thomas Nelson.
HarperCollins Publishers today announced it has closed on the acquisition of Thomas Nelson, a leading trade publisher providing multiple forms of inspirational Christian content including: books, Bibles, e-books, journals, audio, video, reference curriculum, digital apps and live events.
Thomas Nelson will continue to operate as an independent company with its unique editorial focus on inspirational and Christian content. Details, such as how Thomas Nelson will benefit from HarperCollins global print and digital platform, will be forthcoming.
Thomas Nelson self-report as the largest Christian publisher in the world and the seventh largest trade-book publisher in the United States.
HarperCollins is a division of Murdoch’s NewsCorp which already owns Zondervan, the main rival of Thomas Nelson and the largest publisher of bibles in the world.
It’s being reported that HarperCollins paid $200 million to private-equity firm Kohlberg & Co. for Thomas Nelson.
According to trade sales figures this aquisition will give Murdoch roughly 50% of the Christian publishing market.
Tags: Christianity, Media
July 13th, 2012 at 10:45 am
[...] Via the eChurch blog: [...]
July 13th, 2012 at 3:13 pm
I’m not anti-Murdoch, but this all seems utterly improper to me. We may be quite certain that Murdoch cares nothing for Christianity and the ministry of Christian literature. And … I’d like to know just who it is, that decided to seel Nelson to Murdoch. Who is making money out of this? Far better to close the firm.
July 13th, 2012 at 3:43 pm
Murdoch may allegedly have a controlling monopoly over politicians, policemen and other assorted feckless aspirationals but for sure he will not intimidate the Big Man.
July 13th, 2012 at 4:50 pm
Well I prefer to see the positive in this. More bibles printed in English i.e. proper English, rather than all those bibles with American spelling which I find very annoying when trying to read them. I look forward to HarperCollins bringing out the NKJV.