Random House of Canada Takes Over McClelland & Stewart; Canadian Pubs Unhappy – Publisher’s Weekly – Leigh Anne Williams

Canada’s biggest multinational publishing house just got bigger. Random House of Canada has become the sole owner of McClelland & Stewart, one of Canada’s oldest publishing houses.

Random House has owned a share of M&S since 2000 when its sole owner and chairman Avie Bennett sold it 25% of the company and donated 75% to the University of Toronto with the intent that M&S would maintain its editorial independence. Random House had been providing services such as sales, production, human resources and accounting to M&S since that time. But according to the announcement from Random House today, M&S had “been experiencing financial challenges” attributed to the difficult economy and digital-driven transitions.