HarperCollins Children’s Books, Home of Paddington Bear publishing for sixty years, and Vivendi announce a ground-breaking, six-year deal with Vivendi for World Publishing Rights including audio and e-book.
Vivendi took full ownership of the Paddington brand worldwide following the successful international release of the Paddington movie by Studiocanal, a Vivendi subsidiary, in 2014.
The deal marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in Paddington’s history forming a powerhouse partnership of media and content creation that will introduce Paddington to a new generation of readers on the global stage.
Launching with a movie tie-in programme, co-published by HarperCollins US and UK, to coincide with the Paddington 2 movie this Autumn, the partnership creates a strategic alliance of heritage and future vision which will establish a worldwide brand loyalty for Paddington Bear and reach and entertain families across the globe.
As a global hub of publishing expertise with operations in 18 countries, HarperCollins has a customised approach to selling worldwide. The new multi-format global publishing plan will allow local publishers the opportunity to build optimal programmes to appeal to the broadest base of readers worldwide.
Ann-Janine Murtagh, Executive Publisher HarperCollins Children’s Books UK, commented:
“We are proud to be both the original publisher of Paddington Bear and now exclusive global publishing partner of the Vivendi group.
We share their ambition to ensure that Paddington Bear builds an ever bigger fan base and continues to endear children worldwide.
We have been privileged to publish Michael Bond on the HarperCollins list for nearly 60 years. We admire the integrity and creativity with which Studiocanal have brought Paddington to life in the first Paddington movie and look forward with huge excitement to movie 2.
Paddington Publishing marks a key strand of HarperCollins’ future growth strategy and we look forward to working with our colleagues at Vivendi in the years ahead.”
