The Big 5 publishing houses, sometimes referred to as the “major” or “big six” publishing houses, are a subset of the larger publishing industry. These five companies primarily control the English language book marketplace. The Big 5 are:
Penguin Random House: This is a combination of two formerly separate companies, Penguin and Random House. Both were large publishing enterprises in their own right but merged together in 2013, forming Penguin Random House.
Hachette Book Group (HBG): This company is actually a division of Lagardère Group in Europe, though it is headquartered in New York City. Lagardère Group also owns Elle and Woman’s Day.
HarperCollins: HarperCollins was founded in 1989 when two companies, Harper & Row and a company called the Collins Publishing Group, merged. They are based in New York City.
Macmillan: This company was founded in 1843 and is still going strong today, with offices in more than 40 countries. They have a wide variety of imprints, all managed under the Macmillan umbrella, including Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and Henry Holt and Company.
Simon & Schuster: This is another New York City-based company. It was founded in 1924 and is part of the CBS Corporation.
By controlling so much of the publishing landscape, the Big 5 exert a huge amount of influence over the books that become available and those that do not. This makes them a major force in the publishing world, warranting their name, the “big five.”
You can find more detailed information about each of these companies on their respective websites. Penguin Random House: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/Hachette Book Group: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/HarperCollins: https://harpercollins.com/Macmillan: https://us.macmillan.com/Simon & Schuster: https://www.simonandschuster.com/
