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Oct 22- Oct 28, 2012 Edition

Bertelsmann and Pearson to Combine Book Units

Bertelsmann will own 53 percent, Pearson 47 percent. The closing of the transaction is scheduled to take place in the second half of 2013, following regulatory approval. The announcement of the combination was made today in Gütersloh, Germany by Thomas Rabe, Chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann, and in London by Marjorie Scardino, Chief Executive of Pearson.

Upon closing, Markus Dohle, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Random House worldwide, will be CEO of the new group. John Makinson, Chairman and CEO of Penguin, will become Chairman of the Board of Directors. Additional senior executive appointments will be announced in due course. Bertelsmann will appoint five representatives to the group's Board of Directors, Pearson four. The new name will be Penguin Random House. Until the closing, the companies will maintain their current separate operations and continue conducting business independently.

The new publishing group will include all the publishing divisions and imprints of Random House and Penguin in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, as well as Penguin's publishing company in China, and Random House's Spanish-language publishing operations in Spain and Latin America. Random House's Munich-based German-language publishing company, Verlagsgruppe Random House, will not be part of the Group and will remain at Bertelsmann. In the new company, the publishing imprints of Random House and Penguin will continue to publish their books with the autonomy they presently enjoy, and retain their distinct editorial identities.

Bertelsmann Chairman & CEO Thomas Rabe says: “With this planned combination, Bertelsmann and Pearson create the best course for the future of our world-renowned tradebook publishers, Random House and Penguin, by enabling them to publish even more effectively across traditional and emerging formats and distribution channels. It will build on our publishing tradition, offering an extraordinary diversity of publishing opportunities for authors, agents, booksellers, and readers, together with unequalled support and resources.”