Further acquisitions on the cards for S&S, its bosses tell the Frankfurt Book Fair

Simon & Schuster will reap the dividends from being able to invest in itself for the first time in a number of years, the leaders of the global publisher insisted at a c.e.o panel held on day one of the Frankfurt Book Fair, with S&S c.e.o. Jonathan Karp stressing that it was still all “about the books”. His colleague Richard Sarnoff, who represents new private equity parent KKR on the S&S board as chair, said further company acquisitions were also on the cards.

S&S, acquired by KKR for  $1.62bn in 2023, has made a number of recent deals including leading Dutch publisher Veen Bosch & Keuning (VBK) and Australian house Affirm Press.

Sarnoff said this type of activity was set to continue, indicating that it aimed to grow “from within and from an M&A [mergers & acquisition] perspective”.

When asked about the UK, where S&S is much smaller compared to where it sits in the US and global landscape, Sarnoff responded: “There’s no question that we are smaller in the UK than in the US, and there’s also no question that we’d be interested in the right deal with the right publisher, if one were to come along. We think the UK market is terrific, with great readers, and if anyone here in the audience wants to approach us, we’d be happy to listen.”

More widely, Karp said the benefits of being able to invest back in itself after many years being owned by larger media groups were positive: “KKR see us as a growth business, and for the first in [a while] we are investing back into the company. [KKR] looked at us and said if we invest in this company it can grow and it can be better than it already is—and it is really pretty damn good.”

Sarnoff echoed Karp in arguing that the deal represented a growth opportunity. It is widely expected that KKR will aim to increase both profit and turnover at S&S before selling it on. “We certainly expect whatever the hold period is, and we don’t have a fixed number in mind, that we will be creating a lot of value in S&S.” And Sarnoff added: “We are showing from the investments we are making both internally and externally, that we are expecting to grow the business fairly quickly.”

Sarnoff also said the publishing business sector had been written off on numerous occasions, but always comes out on top: “The [books] industry has survived the ravages of radio, television, movies, games, the internet and social media—and has come out of those negative trends [in terms of attention span] strong, and continues to be strong, and that’s a business you can underwrite from a private equity standpoint.”

Karp stressed that S&S would remain focused on the books as the key driver of growth, too. “‘Let’s talk about the books’, that has been my mantra every day, and that’s what S&S is going to remain focused on… A publishing house is built book by book.”

Sarnoff concluded: “I am not saying this is going to suddenly be a rocket ship as an industry, but I am saying that growth can be done on an individual company basis, so long as you have the right management, investment and capability in place.”