Bloomsbury Buys Walker Books

Posted on December 23, 2004

The New York Times reports that Bloomsbury Publishing P.L.C., the British publisher of the Harry Potter books, has announced that it will buy Walker Publishing Company, the small, well-regarded independent publisher based out of New York City, to expand its American presence in nonfiction.

Nigel Newton, founder and chief executive of Bloomsbury, told the Times, "In America, unlike in England, we're a small publisher aiming to become a medium-sized one. Medium-sized is beautiful in publishing."

Walker will remain a separate division. The purchase price will be $6.5 million. Bloomsbury, the British publisher of the Harry Potter titles, has been on a roll lately with the release of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke and the Man Booker prize winning The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst.