A group led by publishing veteran David Steinberger has acquired Open Road Integrated Media Inc., one of the country’s first independent ebook publishers, the company and Mr. Steinberger said.
The parties declined to disclose terms of the deal, but a person familiar with the sale said Open Road, which had been primarily owned by a group of institutional investors, sold for between $60 million and $80 million.
Open...
A group led by publishing veteran David Steinberger has acquired Open Road Integrated Media Inc., one of the country’s first independent ebook publishers, the company and Mr. Steinberger said.
The parties declined to disclose terms of the deal, but a person familiar with the sale said Open Road, which had been primarily owned by a group of institutional investors, sold for between $60 million and $80 million.
Open Road, which was founded in 2009, mostly focuses on older titles whose sales have either leveled off or largely fallen out of favor with readers. The company’s search-engine-optimization tools help give the titles increased visibility online.
In an interview, Mr. Steinberger said Open Road’s business model helps change “a fundamental truth about publishing by enabling discovery of older books for which demand would otherwise further decay.”
Mr. Steinberger will become Open Road’s chief executive on Jan. 1, succeeding Paul Slavin, who will become an adviser.
Open Road’s catalog of about 11,000 ebooks includes well-known titles such as Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Color Purple”; Joan Didion’s 1968 collection of essays, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”; and William Styron’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Confessions of Nat Turner.”
The company also markets more than 25,000 titles from approximately 70 publishing partners. Altogether the company said it sells more than 10 million ebooks annually.
Open Road’s revenue this year is expected to approach $50 million, according to people familiar with the company, who also said Open Road is profitable.
This is the second time in recent years that Mr. Steinberger, 61 years old, has invested in the book business with private investors. In 2018, he and other partners acquired Arcadia Publishing Inc., a publisher of local and regional history books. Mr. Steinberger, the former chief executive of the Perseus Books Group, stepped down as CEO of Arcadia Publishing earlier this year.
Open Road’s new owners include Boston-based Abry Partners, a private-equity firm that invests in media, communications and business services industries; MEP Capital, a media and entertainment-focused private-equity fund based in New York, and Grove Atlantic, an independent New York publisher whose authors include Jim Harrison and Claire Keegan.
Open Road uses its data-driven technology to stimulate general search engines so that its titles are more quickly discovered. Tools include proprietary direct-to-consumer newsletters and websites, flexible pricing strategies and optimized social-network posts and ads, Mr. Slavin said.
Matt Cohen, a director of MEP Capital, said Open Road’s ability to reverse declining sales of older titles encouraged him to invest. “I’ve seen the impact,” he said.
“I’m very happy that the company has gotten to the point where it was viable for sale,” said Jane Friedman, Open Road’s co-founder and former chief executive. Ms. Friedman is a former CEO of HarperCollins Publishers—which like The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp—where she was once Mr. Steinberger’s boss.
Write to Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at jeffrey.trachtenberg@wsj.com
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December 02, 2021 at 08:00PM
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