Octopus Publishing Group acquires Summersdale Alison Goff, CEO of Octopus Publishing Group, and Alastair Williams, Managing Director of Summersdale, are delighted to announce that, with immediate effect, Summersdale will join the Octopus Publishing Group. This follows the signing and completion of an agreement between the shareholders of Summersdale and Octopus Publishing Group on Tuesday 31st October, 2017.
The transaction has been structured as a purchase by Octopus of 100 per cent shareholding in the business, which remains intact as a company. Alastair Williams who continues in his role as Managing Director of Summersdale will, in addition, have a creative role across Hachette to invigorate gift publishing and wider market reach. Alastair and all 23 Summersdale staff will remain based in Chichester, West Sussex.
Founded in 1990 by Alastair Williams and Stewart Ferris, Summersdale has 3 times been shortlisted for Independent Trade Publisher of the Year, winning the award in 2014, and is widely recognized as the UK s leading publisher of gift and humour titles. Summersdale reaches beyond the book trade and specialises in supplying lifestyle and fashion stores with lively, trend-led titles. Summersdale s recent bestsellers include F in exams; Commando Dad and Little Book of Drinking Games.
Alastair Williams says: "After 27 years of independent publishing, I am delighted that the company has been acquired by Octopus, and extremely proud that Summersdale will sit alongside so many fine imprints.
"After a number of meetings with Alison I felt comfortable and excited that we had found the ideal home for our company and list. It was important for us to retain our independent, entrepreneurial spirit and distinct personality, and Octopus identified this. Likewise, we also saw the benefit of being part of much larger group to allow our lists to flourish and also to achieve greater scale and reach."
Alison Goff says: "I have long-admired the energetic, creative publishing that Alastair and his team deliver. They re quick to spot trends and, with characteristic high quality design and production values, bring books to market with incredible speed. It s a winning formula which has convinced many retailers that books can be an important part of their product range and thus opening up whole new areas of the market. I am hugely excited by the opportunity to work with Alastair and grow the business further internationally",
David Shelley, CEO Designate of Hachette says: "I am so excited about Summersdale joining Octopus. A dynamic, fast-growing company with an incredibly sophisticated understanding of consumer behaviour and changing trends, Summersdale is a true leader in its field. The team there delivers something genuinely different and appealing, as evidenced by their great success in the gift and humour markets. I am also delighted that Alastair Williams will have a wider creative role within Hachette - I think he and Summersdale will be a brilliant addition to Hachette UK."
Ends
Contact
Caroline Brown, Publicity and Marketing Director, Octopus Publishing Group, 0203 122 6689.
Hachette UK is the second largest publishing group in the UK. The group consists of over 50 imprints within different publishing divisions: Hodder & Stoughton; Headline Publishing Group; John Murray Press; Quercus; Little, Brown Book Group; Orion Publishing Group; Bookouture; Octopus Publishing Group; Hachette Children s Group and Hodder Education publishing books in all formats for all ages and tastes. In 2016, Hachette UK acquired Neon Play, the mobile games studio.
www.hachette.co.uk
The Octopus Publishing Group is the illustrated books division of Hachette UK. It has a heritage of working with talented authors and strong brands and is known for creating high-quality illustrated books with innovative design, vision and commercial appeal.
Summersdale is an award-winning, vibrant publisher that swiftly responds to emerging global trends to provide entertaining, informative and innovative content in the genres of gift and humour, travel writing, general non-fiction, and health and wellbeing.
To receive the latest Lagard re group press releases, sign up for the E-mail Alert.
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
08/05/2024
NEEDHAM, Mass. The International Data Corporation is predicting that worldwide spending on telecom services and pay TV services will increase by 1.4% in 2024 to...
08/05/2024
CUPERTINO, Calif. In a notable development for news and live video production, Apple has unveiled a number of significant upgrades to its Final Cut Pro software...
08/05/2024
Pliant Technologies has announced that it will be presenting its new SmartBoom LITE Headset at InfoComm 2024 (Booth C5116). The latest updates include enhanceme...
08/05/2024
SAN FRANCISCO Fox's ad-supported streaming service Tubi has launched Stubios, a fan-fueled studio for aspiring filmmakers and their fans that the company sa...
08/05/2024
SAN ANTONIO, Texas Five more stations have launched NextGen TV service, bringing to nine the number of local TV services on-air with ATSC 3.0....
08/05/2024
TYSONS, Va. Tegna Inc. has announced that Greg Retsinas has been named president and general manager at KGW, Tegna's NBC affiliate serving the Portland area...
08/05/2024
08 05 2024 - Media release Olivia Colman and John Lithgow Star in Sophie Hyde's New Project JIMPA
Olivia Coleman and John Lithgow in JIMPA. Photo credit: ...
08/05/2024
OpenDrives Joins AWS Partner Network
Brie Clayton May 7, 2024
0 Comments
Atlas software-defined platform now available via AWS trusted partner network...
08/05/2024
Animate AI Matte Paintings in After Effects
Graham Quince May 7, 2024
0 Comments
Arguably the best video use for AI generated images is Matte Painting...
08/05/2024
Throw Expression in Adobe After Effects
Andy Ford May 7, 2024
0 Comments
The Throw expression is a time-saver in After Effects. It allows you to mov...
08/05/2024
Join FilmLight in Toronto: Baselight 6.1, Nara and more
Brie Clayton May 7, 2024
0 Comments
Thursday 30th May, from 2:30PM, Hosted by Alter Ego 488 ...
08/05/2024
Gray Television reported a first-quarter profit as advertising revenues rebounded to above pre-COVID-19 levels....
08/05/2024
The Today show shared the performers on its summer concert series, which feature...
08/05/2024
Lewis Dodley, longtime anchor for Spectrum News NY1, will retire at the end of May. He's been on the air at the Charter Communications-owned local news chan...
08/05/2024
Scripps Sports said it plans to air a new studio show when a new season of WNBA Friday Night Spotlight starts May 24....
08/05/2024
Advertisers are looking to reach the right audiences and tell their stories inside compelling content, Karen Kovacs, president of client partnerships at NBCUniv...
08/05/2024
Professor emeritus John (Jack) Johnson elected to the National Academy of Sciences Johnson's multi-disciplinary research has been instrumental in shaping ou...
08/05/2024
zweiB updates to latest version of R&S CLIPSTER Specialist in deliverables for cinema, events and trade shows
Rohde & Schwarz, a global leader in broadcast...
07/05/2024
NAB Show 2024
Utah Scientific rocked the 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas, unveiling two new game-changers in video signal management.
Our primary focus this yea...
07/05/2024
7th May 2024 The nations favourite comedy channel Gold has teamed up with the ma...
07/05/2024
There's something special about summer. We're not sure whether it's the warmer weather, the longer days, or something else a bit more magical, but s...
07/05/2024
NITV appoints Michael Rennie as Presenter and Senior Producer for NITV News
Media releases
NITV has announced the appointment of Michael Rennie as Presenter...
07/05/2024
The ability for line-of-site tactical voice and data networks to seamlessly traverse over Satellite Communications is an emerging requirement to assure warfight...
07/05/2024
On April 5, 2024, the L3Harris Avionics Products Repair Station (NN2R037L) in Gr...
07/05/2024
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
07/05/2024
Share this article
width=32 height=32 loading=lazy data-lazy-src=https://apogeedigital.com/app/themes/juniper-theme/src/img/icons/facebook-purple.svg />
wid...
07/05/2024
BURBANK, Calif. The Walt Disney Company has finally delivered some from profits from its hefty streaming investments, with the second quarter of its fiscal year...
07/05/2024
Bonnie Hammer, vice chair of NBCUniversal, and Jen Psaki, MSNBC host, read from their new books at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan Wednesday, May 8. Hammer's...
07/05/2024
Paramount Plus has ordered the series Crutch, a comedy that is a spinoff of CBS comedy The Neighborhood. Tracy Morgan stars....
07/05/2024
Edward J. and Melody Thomas Scott and Lidia Bastianich will receive Lifetime Achievement honors at the 51st annual Daytime Emmy Awards in June, the National Aca...
07/05/2024
The 2024 Giants of Broadcasting & Electronic Arts luncheon and awards ceremony happens in New York November 12, and the honorees are Al Roker, weather and featu...
07/05/2024
Dabl Network has added The Wayans Bros., The Jamie Foxx Show, Living Single and Everybody Hates Chris to its weekday and weekend lineups. Those shows join the l...
07/05/2024
After winning a proxy fight, The Walt Disney Co. said its entertainment business turned a profit and added subscribers in its fiscal second quarter....
07/05/2024
NBA Entertainment is closing out the second season of its series Pass the Rock with a look at Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs, the league's rooki...
07/05/2024
Syncbak, which provides stations with streaming capabilities, said it is rebranding as Zeam Media....
07/05/2024
Samsung has made a deal with Magnolia Pictures that will bring titles from Magnolia to the Samsung TV Plus free streaming platform....
07/05/2024
Amazon, which has added commercials to Amazon Prime Video, is rolling out new interactive ad formats that will enable advertisers to engage streamers and sell s...
07/05/2024
Syncbak, a 15 year-old provider of streaming tech for local broadcast stations has rebranded itself, adopting the name of its streaming service launched in Febr...
07/05/2024
POST Luxembourgs journey with TAG Video underscores how finding a vendor who und...
07/05/2024
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. New findings from Hub Entertainment Research provides extensive data showing that the majority of consumers will opt for lower cost ad-supporte...
07/05/2024
NEW YORK The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation (LABF) has announced th...
07/05/2024
CBS News has named Lindsey Reiser an anchor and correspondent for CBS News 24/7, the network's live, streaming news service. Reiser, who was most recently a...
07/05/2024
NEEDHAM, Mass. After more than two years of decline, worldwide tablet shipments posted modest year-over-year growth of 0.5% in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24),...
07/05/2024
ESPN is reporting that April was a record-setting month as the network delivered its best April prime time audience on record, dating back more than 30 years....
07/05/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has announced that Kirsten Donaldson has joined NAB as vice president of public policy. Donaldso...
07/05/2024
The Bulls are back home again this week from May 7-12! Don't miss out on any...
07/05/2024
Tonight on House of Zwide: Mampho cautions Maria against making a move on IsaacDon't miss Tuesday, 7 May's riveting episode of South African soapie Hous...
Octopus Publishing Group acquires Summersdale Alison Goff, CEO of Octopus Publishing Group, and Alastair Williams, Managing Director of Summersdale, are delighted to announce that, with immediate effect, Summersdale will join the Octopus Publishing Group. This follows the signing and completion of an agreement between the shareholders of Summersdale and Octopus Publishing Group on Tuesday 31st October, 2017. 
