GAMBIER, OHIO (AP) — Kenyon Review Editor David Lynn announced today that the nonprofit literary magazine has acquired Random House in a deal widely estimated to be in the low six figures. “We’re proud to be adding Random House to the KR family,” Lynn said in his announcement. “The negotiations were tough, but they were in a hurry to leave, so what could we do? And they threw in a totebag.”
With its headquarters in the dramatic Random House Tower, occupying an entire block of West Broadway in Manhattan, the publishing house has a storied history since its founding by Bennett Cerf in 1927. Until this morning, it was a division of Bertelsmann AG, an international media corporation with its headquarters in a dormant volcano in G??tersloh, Germany. The deal reportedly includes Random House subsidiaries Bantam, Doubleday, Dell, Anchor, Crown, and Knopf, along with the remainder of the U.S. publishing industry.
The Kenyon Review recently celebrated its 70th Anniversary by moving into its new home in Finn House, a renovated cottage on the campus of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. All future publishing operations in the U.S. will now operate out of this vital nerve center.