2023

• Leading global investment firm KKR acquires Simon & Schuster from Paramount Global. For Simon & Schuster, the change marks a return to its roots as standalone, independent publishing company.

2016

• Simon & Schuster acquires Adams Media, a savvy publisher of practical nonfiction based in Avon, Massachusetts, from F+W Publishing.
• In June Simon & Schuster opened a 200,000 square foot expansion to its Riverside Distribution Center. The new space effectively doubles pallet storage capacity at the facility, enabling the company to further grow its third party distribution business.
• Simon & Schuster Children’s publishing announces Salaam Reads, the first imprint dedicated to providing books of interest to the Muslim children’s community, and Gallery Books announces Gallery 13 to publish graphic novels.

2015

• The company launches SimonSays.com, a new portal offering paid online video courses from Simon & Schuster authors.
• New imprints are announced: Scout Press, a home for literary fiction within the Gallery Books Group and North Star Way, a platform- based program that will provide authors with services beyond traditional publishing ranging from brand management and online courses and subscriptions to sponsorships and business partnerships.

2014

• Following on the success of its library ebook pilot, Simon & Schuster expands the program to include universal access for public libraries nationwide.
• Simon & Schuster makes its backlist ebooks available to consumers through subscription services Oyster and Scribd.
• Simon & Schuster enters the science fiction field with two new imprints: SAGA Press, for readers of all ages, and Simon451, operated by the company’s adult trade imprint.

2013

• Simon & Schuster Canada expands its operations to include editorial and publishing activities for Canadian originated titles
• In partnership with the New York Public Libraries, Simon & Schuster launched a pilot program for ebook library lending, including a But It Now option that allows patrons to purchase an ebook that is not currently available
• 37 Ink, a new imprint established to feature authors from a diverse array of cultures and backgrounds, begins publishing operations

2012

• In a reorganization of adult publishing. Free Press is integrated with Simon & Schuster, Touchstone becomes part of the Scribner Publishing Group, Howard Books joins the Atria Publishing Group, and the Gallery Publishing Group continues as the home of Pocket Books, Pocket Star, Threshold Editions, MTV Books and Karen Hunter Publishing.
• S&S makes available for the first time as ebooks the entire Folger Shakespeare Library. The electronic editions retain the unique double spread format that makes Folger highly regarded in the educational market
• Together with Author Solutions, Simon & Schuster launches Archway Publishing, a self-publishing service for authors who desire to take a non-traditional path to publication.
• Simon & Schuster enters distribution partnerships with some of the largest sites on the web, including AOL, Blinkx.com, and Roku. Combined with previous partnerships with YouTube, Goodreads and others, S&S videos garner more than 1 million views per month.
• Pocket Books, America’s first paperback publisher, re-launches its Pocket Star line as an ebook-only imprint, featuring bestselling and debut authors in popular genres including women’s fiction, romance, thrillers, urban fantasy, and mystery.

2011

• In partnership with Hachette Book Group and Penguin Group (USA), Simon & Schuster announces Bookish, an industry-wide book marketing site that will also have e-commerce capability for both print and digital editions
• Simon & Schuster India is established to publish and sell S&S and distribution client titles in that increasingly important English-language marketplace
• My Sales, a new tool that enables authors to independently access up-to-date sales information for their S&S titles is launched as part of the company’s Author Portal, a site to provide authors information and resources throughout the publishing process.

2010

• S&S pioneers new digital formats made possible by digital media tablet technology with the release of the enhanced ebook of NIXONLAND, with video integrated contextually and in-line with the text. The enhanced ebook is produced in partnership with CBS News.
• In a similar vein, the Children’s Publishing Division offers its first list of illustrated ebooks, some with light animation and sound, including popular titles such as the OLIVIA series.
• To better serve its industry partners, including booksellers, vendors, distribution clients and media, S&S launches the dedicated business-to-business site www.simonandschuster.biz.
• Seeking to reach readers by providing information relevant to their lives, S&S introduces TipsonHealthyLiving.com, TipsonLifeandLove.com and TipsonHomeandStyle.com, three category specific sites that feature short articles culled from Simon & Schuster’s extensive nonfiction library.

2009

• In January the company launches the new Simonandschuster.com, a completely redesigned website.
• Drawing on its historical beginnings to publish in the newest formats for today’s on the go consumer, S&S launches the 365 CROSSWORDS application for iPhone and iPod Touch.
• Howard Books, the company’s Christian publishing imprint, relocates to Nashville, Tennessee from West Monroe, Louisiana.
• S&S combines its Pocket hardcover and trade paperback lines with Simon Spotlight Entertainment to form a new single imprint, Gallery Books.
• Atria publishes the first four vooks, a new format that combines text and video in a single integrated and uninterrupted reading experience

2008

• Aravind Adiga’s THE WHITE TIGER wins the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, one of the most influential prizes in the world of English literature.
• Continuing to pioneer new forms of digital publishing, Scribner and S&S Digital partner with Marvel Entertainment and CBS Mobile to publish Stephen King’s “N.” a groundbreaking original video series, available for sale at iTunes, that garners more than 1 million views. Simon & Schuster Audio introduces the V-Book, and iPod-ready digital video presentation that is available for download and on DVD

2007

• Simon & Schuster begins a local publishing program based in India. The first title selected for publication is PLANET INDIA by Mira Kamdar.
• Quickly surpassing previous records, THE SECRET by Rhonda Byrne (Atria Books) becomes the fastest selling book in Simon & Schuster history, with nearly 7 million copies in print worldwide by the end of 2007.
• Simon & Schuster announces an eco-friendly paper policy to increase both the use of recycled fiber in its products and the amount of paper purchased from FSC certified mills.
• Carolyn K. Reidy is named President and Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2008, upon the retirement of President and CEO Jack Romanos.

2006

• ­­­­­­­Simon & Schuster becomes part of CBS Corporation (a result of the separation of Viacom into two companies)
• S&S pursues new readers in targeted demographics through new imprints, including the acquisition of Howard Books, a religious publishing company; the launch of Threshold Editions, for conservative readers; a Hispanic/Latino line within Atria; the acquisition of African American publishing line Strebor Books; and Simon Scribbles, a children’s coloring and activity imprint.
• YOU: ON A DIET by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz (Free Press) sets a new record as the fastest selling book in company history.

2004

• Management oversight of Simon & Schuster returns to Viacom corporate headquarters.

2003

• LIVING HISTORY by Hillary Rodham Clinton is one of the fastest selling hardcover nonfiction titles ever published, quickly reaching a total of 1.6 million copies in print.

2002

• Simon & Schuster is integrated with the Paramount motion picture and television studios as part of the Viacom Entertainment Group. Jack Romanos is named President and Chief Executive Officer.
• Simon & Schuster acquires Distican, its distributor in Canada, which is renamed Simon & Schuster Canada.

2001

• Simon & Schuster publishes JOHN ADAMS by David McCullough to resounding critical acclaim. It becomes a #1 on the New York Times best-seller and other national lists, and goes on to win the Pulitzer Prize for biography with more than 1.5 million hardcover copies in print.
• S&S combines the Trade and Pocket Books divisions in a single entity as the Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Division, under the leadership of President Carolyn K. Reidy.

2000

• With the publication of Stephen King’s RIDING THE BULLET, Simon & Schuster’s Scribner imprint becomes the first publisher to offer an original work by a major author exclusively in electronic format.

1998

• Simon & Schuster Education, International, Professional and Reference Groups sold to Pearson plc.
• Simon & Schuster, Inc. is now a solely focused consumer publishing company made up of four U.S. divisions: Pocket Books, S&S Children’s Publishing, S&S New Media, and S&S Trade, and the international divisions Simon & Schuster UK and Simon & Schuster Australia.

1996

• Simon & Schuster Online and simonsays.com, the company website, is launched.

1994

• Simon & Schuster acquires Macmillan Publishing Company.
• Viacom Inc. acquires Paramount Communications
• Simon & Schuster Interactive is created.

1989

• Gulf + Western restructures and becomes Paramount Communications.

1988

• Leon Shimkin dies.
• Pocket Books begins publishing hardcover books.

1986

• Simon & Schuster Audio is launched.

1984

• Simon & Schuster enters a period of extraordinary and rapid growth, acquiring more than 60 companies, including Prentice-Hall. Revenues rise from $200 million in 1983 to more than $2 billion in 1997.

1975

• Leon Shimkin sells Simon & Schuster, Inc. to Gulf + Western, and retires.

1970

• M. Lincoln Schuster dies.

1966

• Max Schuster retires. Leon Shimkin acquires Schuster’s shares in the company and merges Simon & Schuster and Pocket Books, renaming the company Simon & Schuster, Inc. At the time of the merger, Shimkin compares the restructured company to a block of brownstones–interrelated for general services, such as finance, production and distribution, but creatively autonomous.

1961

• Pocket Books goes public with Shimkin holding 46 percent of the stock.

1960

• Richard L. Simon dies.

1959

• Washington Square Press acquired by Pocket Books.

1958

• Simon & Schuster sells its share of Golden Books to Western Publishing.

1957

• Marshall Field dies and Simon, Schuster and Shimkin buy back Simon & Schuster, while Shimkin and James M. Jacobson acquire Pocket Books. The three S’s make a pact for the future ownership of their company that allows for the remaining partners to buy out the stock of any one of them who leaves the company. Dick Simon retires later that year and Max Schuster and Leon Shimkin become equal partners.

1945

• Pocket Books publishes the first “instant book,” FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT: A MEMORIAL, just six days after the President’s death.

1944

• Simon & Schuster and Pocket Books are sold to Marshall Field for an estimated $3 million, after the heir to the Chicago merchandising fortune makes an informal offer to Dick Simon. Under the agreement, Simon & Schuster and Pocket Books can continue to operate with complete autonomy, providing the company with welcome financial security and the principals with long-term management contracts.

1943

• Hitching their wagon to a stork, the three S’s launch a new Simon & Schuster subsidiary–Little Golden Books. Combining educational content and four-color art at 25 cents a copy, the titles are immediate bestsellers. By the end of the first year of publication, 2.7 million Golden Books have been shipped and 2 million are on backorder.

1939

• With Robert Fair de Graff, Simon, Schuster, and Shimkin team up to launch Pocket Books, pioneering the American mass market paperback revolution. Priced at 25 cents, with a bespectacled kangaroo named Gertrude as its logo, these pocket-sized paperback reprints of classics and bestsellers are an instant success. Pocket’s initial ten titles include LOST HORIZON by James Hilton, ENOUGH ROPE by Dorothy Parker, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD by Agatha Christie, WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Bronte, and THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder.

1930

• Hired in the company’s first year, Leon Shimkin becomes an equal partner, where his talent and ambition in business soon establish him as the “third S” at Essandess.

1925

• Simon & Schuster becomes the first publisher to offer booksellers the privilege of returning unsold copies for credit–a practice that revolutionizes the book business.

1924

• Richard L. (Dick) Simon and M. Lincoln (Max) Schuster found the company that still bears their names with no employees, no authors, no manuscripts, and no sales. Their first project, a crossword puzzle book, with a first printing of 3,600 copies and a retail price of $1.35 each (including an attached pencil), is a phenomenal success.