Who owns Penguin Books?
Penguin Books is owned by Bertelsmann (Germany).[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA Annual Report 2025, 31 March 2026. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA reported
- Owner HQ
- 🇩🇪 Germany, Gütersloh
- Origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom, London
- Founded
- 1935
- Category
- Media & entertainment › Publishing › Book publishers
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Penguin Books
Penguin was founded in 1935 to sell quality paperbacks at the price of a packet of cigarettes, sold initially from a vending machine on Charing Cross Road. Its orange and white covers are among the most recognised in publishing. Its founder Allen Lane conceived it after failing to find anything worth reading at a railway station, and the first ten titles included Hemingway and Agatha Christie.
Ownership timeline of Penguin Books
- Current owner Bertelsmann [1] reported
Where Penguin Books sits in Bertelsmann
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Bertelsmann ownership tree →
See the full Bertelsmann brand portfolio (4) →
Other brands owned by Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann controls 4 brands on Brandtree, 4 of them in media & entertainment.
Also in media & entertainment
- BMG (2008)
- Penguin Random House (2013)
- RTL (1984)
Other brands in book publishers, and who owns them
The 34 brands in book publishers on Brandtree belong to 9 owners. The largest is Lagardère, with 13; Bertelsmann has 2.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Bragelonne | Lagardère | 🇫🇷 France |
| Bokfabriken | Storytel | 🇸🇪 Sweden |
| Clifford the Big Red Dog | Scholastic | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Macmillan Education | Springer Nature | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| Dummies | Wiley | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Kids Can Press | Corus | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| Kadokawa Bunko | Kadokawa | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| HarperCollins | News Corp | 🇺🇸 United States |
About the owner: Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann is a family-owned company headquartered in Gütersloh, Germany, founded in 1835. Brandtree records 4 brands under its control.
Bertelsmann began as a religious publisher in Westphalia in 1835 and is now among the largest media companies in Europe, controlled by a foundation and the founding Mohn family. It owns the largest English-language book publisher in the world and Europe's biggest commercial broadcaster.
🇬🇧 Penguin Books and other British brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 552 brands that began in the United Kingdom. 291 of them (53%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Penguin Books among them.
- Anime Limited — TOHO 🇯🇵
- BelfastLive — Reach 🇬🇧
- Celtic FC Women — Celtic plc 🇬🇧
- Chrysalis Records — Reservoir 🇺🇸
- Country Life — Future 🇬🇧
- Eventim Apollo — CTS Eventim 🇩🇪
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Penguin Books?
The parent company of Penguin Books is Bertelsmann, a family-owned company headquartered in Germany.
Is Penguin Books British or German?
Penguin Books originated in the United Kingdom in 1935, but it is owned today by Bertelsmann, which is headquartered in Germany. So Penguin Books is a British-origin brand under German ownership.
Is Penguin Books still owned by Bertelsmann?
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, Penguin Books is still owned by Bertelsmann. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA Annual Report 2025 — Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, Annual report, published 31 March 2026; retrieved 16 September 2026.
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