By Anirban Sen and Milana Vinn
NEW YORK (Reuters) -KKR & Co Inc is in advanced talks to acquire book publisher Simon & Schuster from Paramount Global for $1.65 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
KKR was competing against bidders including News Corp-owned HarperCollins Publishers for Simon & Schuster and investor Richard Hurowitz, the sources said.
If the talks conclude successfully, a deal could be announced in the coming days, the sources said, requesting anonymity as these discussions are confidential.
Reuters reported in February that Paramount was seeking to sell Simon & Schuster for a second time, after the media company’s $2.2 billion deal to sell the publisher to Penguin Random House collapsed last year because it was blocked by a federal judge.
Paramount and KKR declined to comment. HarperCollins and Hurowitz did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Wall Street Journal reported the advanced talks between KKR and Paramount earlier on Thursday.
Simon & Schuster’s sale to KKR will not raise competition concerns with U.S. regulators that led to the demise of the Penguin deal last year, the sources said.
Last year, the U.S. Justice Department sued to stop the tie-up of Penguin and Simon & Schuster, which led to a collapse of the deal. A combined group would have accounted for nearly half of the market for publishing rights to blockbuster books.
Paramount walked away with a breakup fee of $200 million after it called off the deal with Penguin owner Bertelsmann.
Simon & Schuster publishes authors including Stephen King, Jennifer Weiner, and former U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. King testified in favor of the U.S. government when it sued to block the tie-up with Penguin.
(Reporting by Anirban Sen in New YorkAdditional reporting by Milana Vinn Editing by Sandra Maler)
