News Corp to buy Houghton Mifflin consumer books for $349 million

Publishing giant News Corp. is buying Houghton Mifflin’s consumer books division for $349 million as demand for printed reading material skyrockets.

Houghton Mifflin’s HMH Books & Media book division — publisher of J.R.R. Tolkien and the Curious George series of children’s books — will be operated as part of News Corp.’s Harper Collins book publishing arm. The deal comes amid a resurgence in books sales due to the pandemic and marks the second acquisition this month for News Corp., which last week agreed to buy Investor’s Business Daily for $275 million. News Corp. is also the publisher of the New York Post.