Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc is an independent, London-based publishing house known for literary novel. It was named Publisher of the Year in 1999 and 2000. Bloomsbury's growth over the past few years is mainly due to the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. The company was founded in 1986 by Nigel Newton, who had previously been employed by other publishing companies. It was floated as a public registered company in 1995, raising £5.5million, which was used to fund expansion of the company into paperback and children's book. A rights issue of shares in 1998 raised a further £6.1m which was used to expand the company, in particular to found an American branch of the company. In 2000 Bloomsbury acquired A&C; Black Plc, and in 2002 acquired Whitakers Almanack. This was followed by further acquisitions. In 2007, Bloomsbury published Bloomsbury 21, a reprint series of 21 of its most popular books to celebrate its 21st anniversary. full article at wikipedia