Holtzbrinck Publishing Group () is a

privately held A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

German company based in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...

which owns

publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

companies worldwide. Through

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

, it is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies. In 2015, it

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

most of its Macmillan Science and Education unit (including

Nature Publishing Group Nature Portfolio (formerly known as Nature Publishing Group and Nature Research) is a division of the international scientific publishing company Springer Nature that publishes academic journals, magazines, online databases, and services in scie ...

) with

Springer Science+Business Media Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 ...

, creating the company

Springer Nature Springer Nature or the Springer Nature Group is a German-British academic publishing company created by the May 2015 merger of Springer Science+Business Media and Holtzbrinck Publishing Group's Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, and M ...

. Holtzbrinck owns 53% of the combined company.

History

The history of Georg von Holtzbrink's publishing activities during the Nazi years 1933-1945 has been controversial. After World War II,

Georg von Holtzbrinck George von Holtzbrinck (born 11 May 1909, Schöplenberg, Hagen died 27 April 1983, Stuttgart) was a German publisher and founder of Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. Biography In 1931, Holtzbrinck joined the Nazi Young Workers. In 1933, ...

, a former member of the Nazi party, reestablished a group in 1948, beginning as a German book club. In the 1960s, it purchased Droemer, Kindler, Rowohlt and S. Fischer Verlag, two German publishing companies. In 1985, it acquired the retail book division of Holt, Rinehart and Winston, naming it the Henry Holt Book Company. One year later, the company acquired ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

for $52.6 million. In 1994, it purchased a majority interest in

Farrar, Straus & Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

from retiring

Roger W. Straus, Jr. Roger Williams Straus Jr. (January 3, 1917 – May 25, 2004) was co-founder and chairman of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, a New York book publishing company, and member of the Guggenheim family. Biography Early life Straus was born in New York City ...

A year later, it purchased a 70% majority interest in The Macmillan Group, and then the remaining shares in 1999. In March 2006, Holtzbrinck forced

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese scienc ...

, which is owned by Holtzbrinck, to stop making its books available as

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...

s via Baen Ebooks because of concerns regarding the lack of digital rights management (DRM). The policy was later changed and Tor titles became available as DRM-free e-books in 2012. The Tor UK label in Britain (and hence the EU) does the same. The company also received a good deal of attention when it bought the then leading German social networking platform

StudiVZ StudiVZ, SchülerVZ and MeinVZ was a social networking platform for students (in particular for college and university students in Europe) and based in Berlin, Germany. The name is an abbreviation of the German expression ''Studentenverzeichni ...

in January 2007. Holtzbrinck has total annual sales of 2.1 billion euros (as of 2005); 49% of sales are in Germany and 23% in North America. It had 2005 earnings before taxes of 142 million euros, and a total of 14,000 employees. The current chairman of the group is Stefan von Holtzbrinck. John Sargent is CEO of Macmillan, the company that unites the US-based businesses of the group.

Subsidiaries and imprints

In Germany: * S. Fischer Verlag ** FISCHER Krüger ** ** FISCHER Scherz *

Rowohlt Verlag Rowohlt Verlag is a German publishing house based in Hamburg, with offices in Reinbek and Berlin. It has been part of the Georg von Holtzbrinck Group since 1982. The company was created in 1908 in Leipzig by Ernst Rowohlt. Divisions * Kinder * ...

Kiepenheuer & Witsch Kiepenheuer & Witsch is a German publishing house, established in 1948 by Joseph C. Witsch and on behalf of Gustav Kiepenheuer (who was already terminally ill). The partners initially held respectively 30% and 40% of the company's share capita ...

(85%) * Verlagsgruppe Droemer Knaur (50%) ** O.W. Barth *

Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History Th ...

(50%) In the United States:
Using the

Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...

name: *

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

** Faber & Faber (formerly; ended partnership in 2015) *

Henry Holt and Company Henry Holt and Company is an American book-publishing company based in New York City. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt. Currently, the company publishes in the fields ...

** Holt Paperbacks ** Metropolitan Books **

Times Books Times Books (previously the New York Times Book Company) is a publishing imprint owned by the New York Times Company and licensed to Henry Holt and Company. Times Books began as the New York Times Book Company in 1969, when The New York Times Com ...

Owl Books Henry Holt and Company is an American book-publishing company based in New York City. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt. Currently, the company publishes in the fields ...

Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains off ...

* Picador *

Roaring Brook Press A roar is a type of animal vocalization that is deep and resonating. Many mammals have evolved to produce roars and other roar-like vocals for purposes such as long-distance communication and intimidation. These include various species of big cat ...

** Neal Porter Books **

First Second Books First Second Books is an American publisher of graphic novels. An imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual essays, and comics journalism. It al ...

* St. Martin's Press **

Thomas Dunne Books Thomas Dunne Books was an imprint of St. Martin's Press, which is a division of Macmillan Publishers. From 1986 until April 2020, it published popular trade fiction and nonfiction. History The imprint signed David Irving, a scholar, for a Joseph ...

Tom Doherty Associates Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese scien ...

Forge Books Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

Bedford, Freeman and Worth Publishing Group Macmillan Inc. is a defunct American book publishing company. Originally established as the American division of the British Macmillan Publishers, the two were later separated and acquired by other companies, with the remnants of the original A ...

W.H. Freeman W. H. Freeman and Company is an imprint of Macmillan Higher Education, a division of Macmillan Publishers. Macmillan publishes monographs and textbooks for the sciences under the imprint. History The company was founded in 1946 by William H. F ...

Bedford-St. Martin's Bedford/St. Martin's is an American publishing company specializing in humanities college textbooks. Bedford/St. Martin's is part of the Bedford, Freeman, and Worth Publishing group owned by the Macmillan Publishers, which is in turn owned by t ...

Worth Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

** Macmillan Learning * Hayden-McNeil *

Using the Audio Renaissance name in

Southfield, Michigan Southfield is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 76,618. As a northern suburb of Detroit, Southfield shares part of its southern border with Detroit. The city was original ...

: * Renaissance Media In the United Kingdom: *

Pan Macmillan Pan Books is a publishing imprint that first became active in the 1940s and is now part of the British-based Macmillan Publishers, owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group of Germany. Pan Books began as an independent publisher, ...

*** Macmillan *** Pan Books *** Picador *** Macmillan Children's Books *** Campbell Books *** Priddy Books *** Boxtree *** Sidgwick & Jackson **

Macmillan Education Macmillan Education is a publisher of English Language teaching and school curriculum materials. The company is based in London and operates in over 40 countries worldwide. History In 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd was fined GBP 11.3 million by t ...

(53%) *

Digital Science Digital Science (or Digital Science & Research Solutions Ltd) is a technology company with its headquarters in London, United Kingdom. The company focuses on strategic investments into startup companies that support the research lifecycle. Histo ...

Notes and references

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Holtzbrinck Publishing Group Book publishing companies of Germany Newspaper companies of Germany Magazine publishing companies of Germany Multinational publishing companies Publishing companies established in 1948 1948 establishments in Germany Mass media in Stuttgart German companies established in 1948

History

Subsidiaries and imprints

See also

Notes and references

External links