Random House, Inc. is an American publishing company founded in 1927. The company published Piccadilly Press books for the US market including Doctor Who: The TARDIS Inside Out in 1985 and The Companions in 1986. In 1998, it was purchased by German transnational media corporation Bertelsmann AG. The brand name of the publisher is used by Bertelsmann in many countries and Random House touts itself as the world's largest English language general trade book publisher. [1]
Random House gained majority shareholding for BBC Books in 2006 and Virgin Publishing in 2007. Both currently exist as imprints in the company's division, Ebury Publishing. As an imprint, BBC Books has continued to print new Doctor Who material. Virgin's 2005 book Who's Next: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who has been kept in print since the acquisition of Virgin.
In July 2013, Random House merged with Penguin Group, combining to become Penguin Random House. Random House remained a distinct publishing group under Penguin Random House.
In December 2013, after the passing of audiobook publisher AudioGO into administration, Random House obtained the rights to AudioGo's BBC-licenced content - including audiobooks and audio dramas based on Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures - for the UK and the rest of the world excluding North America, Australia and New Zealand. [2]
