Random House, a division of Bertelsmann AG, has won approval from a federal bankruptcy judge and will acquire Golden Books Family Entertainment for $154 million.  Earlier this summer, it looked as if the closely held animation studio DIC (the company that packages Sailor Moon for American television), with the backing of the Bain Capital buyout firm, would be able to acquire Golden Books for $73 million in cash and the assumption of $90 million in debt (see 'DIC To Acquire Golden Books').   But in late July the management of Golden Books decided to accept a last minute bid from Random House and Classic Media. The Random House bid will provide some $84 million in cash as well as assuming some $70 million in obligations.  For its trouble DIC will receive a $5 million break-up fee that Golden Books will pay in order to accept the Random House/Classic Media offer.

 

Golden Books has a library of some 500,000 titles as well as a distribution system that reaches close to 100,000 outlets.  Though the Golden Books library contains many older titles like The Poky Little Puppy that perhaps don't have the same appeal that they might have had some 50 years ago, many of the Golden Book titles are relatively impervious to the effects of aging, and the company does have a number of titles such as Peter Cottontail, which it can still license vigorously (see 'Rabbit Seasoning').  Golden Books' enormous distribution system could potentially be a major help to Random House, which could include its own extensive list of children's books along with Golden Books titles to help defray the cost of the system, which includes supermarkets, gift stores, and other non-traditional book outlets.