Sisters-based Multnomah Publishers sold to Random House

    SISTERS – New York-based Random House, Inc., the largest English-language trade book publisher, announced last month that it has purchased one of the nation’s leading evangelical Christian book publishing houses, Sisters-based Multnomah Publishers. The acquisition significantly strengthens the company’s presence in the burgeoning Christian book marketplace.
     Multnomah publishes more than 100 new titles annually by such popular authors as Randy Alcorn, Shaunti Feldhahn, Robin Jones Gunn, and Andy Stanley. Its active backlist of more than 600 works of fiction and nonfiction includes classic books of faith by Dr. James Dobson, Francine Rivers, and Joshua Harris, and The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson, the eight-million-copy No. 1 New York Times bestseller and the bestselling book published in the U.S. in 2001.
     Multnomah will become Random House, Inc.’s second evangelical Christian imprint, following the creation of WaterBrook Press in 1996. WaterBrook is an editorially autonomous division of Random House’s Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group. Multnomah will be integrated operationally with WaterBrook, relocating to WaterBrook’s offices in Colorado Springs. Together they will form the new WaterBrook Multnomah division within Doubleday Broadway, with each imprint maintaining its distinct editorial identity.
     The purchase was announced by Stephen Rubin, president and publisher of Doubleday Broadway, and Don Jacobson, president and publisher of Multnomah, the company he and his wife founded in 1987. Both Random House and Multnomah are privately held and financial terms of the acquisition, were not disclosed. Jacobson will be a consultant during the transition and integration.
    “The decision to sell Multnomah was a difficult one,” said Jacobson, “but in Random House we have an acquiring publisher with a strong shared commitment to our mission for our authors and their books and the resources to bring their writing to the widest readership.
    “In my new consultant capacity, I will do all I can to make the efforts ahead as smooth as possible for everyone.”
     According to those who arranged the acquisition, WaterBrook Multnomah will bring together two highly complementary publishing programs under the leadership of Steve Cobb, president and publisher, WaterBrook Press. Cobb was one of the imprint’s founding executives in 1996, and over the past decade has helped guide its growth and rise to prominence in the Christian book publishing world. It publishes more than 75 new titles each year, with an active backlist of 500 books. Among its best-known authors are Stephen Arterburn, Kay Arthur, Shannon Ethridge, Liz Curtis Higgs, Joanna Weaver, and David Gregory.
     Cobb reports to Michael Palgon, executive vice president and deputy publisher for Doubleday Broadway, who led the Random House acquisition effort.
    “We are quite privileged to have the opportunity to join together with Multnomah, whose fine publishing we have long admired. Our combined publishing entity will provide our authors great platforms to reach larger audiences and broader market coverage and enhanced resources to support their message,” said Cobb.
     Rubin observed, “Double-ay’s great and enduring religious publishing tradition was very successfully enhanced by our start-up of WaterBrook Press. That tradition takes an important step forward with the addition of Multnomah’s wonderful publishing program. We look forward to growing Multnomah, as we honor its editorial heritage.”
     Random House, Inc., the world’s largest English-language trade book publisher, publishes many of the foremost and most popular fiction and nonfiction authors in hardcover, trade and mass market paperback, audio, electronic, digital, and other formats.
     Random House, Inc. is the U.S. division of Random House, the book division of Bertelsmann AG, one of the world’s leading media companies.