The Big 5 Publishers and the Biggest Book Publishers

Trade publishers make the books you find in bookstores: novels, memoirs, cookbooks and children’s books, as opposed to textbooks or legal and medical titles. Each of the Big 5 is a group of imprints, which are the brand names printed on a book’s spine, so Knopf, Scribner, Tor and Little, Brown each belong to one of these five companies. This guide covers who they are, who owns them, how big they are, and the large publishers outside the group. For submission rules, see each house’s profile in our directory of book publishing companies accepting submissions.

Who are the Big 5 publishers?

The Big 5 publishers are Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group and Macmillan. All five run their US business from New York, and three of them are owned by companies based in Germany or France.

Share: the house’s share of the 2,080 yearly slots on PW’s two adult hardcover lists, fiction and nonfiction (1,040 each), powered by Circana BookScan (PW, January 2026). Sources: each owner’s 2025 or 2026 annual report or announcement.

The Big 5, house by house

Each house below links to its profile in our directory, where we keep its current submission rules and imprint list. In short, all five mostly read new books through literary agents; the hub explains which Big Five imprints take submissions.

Penguin Random House

The largest trade publisher in the world. It was formed on July 1, 2013, when Bertelsmann and Pearson merged Penguin and Random House, and Bertelsmann has owned all of it since March 31, 2020. Its 2025 revenue was €4.98 billion (about $5.8 billion), according to Bertelsmann’s annual results. It says it has more than 300 imprints and brands worldwide. Known imprints include Alfred A. Knopf, Doubleday, Crown, Random House, Viking, Riverhead, Berkley and, for children, Golden Books and Philomel Books. See the Penguin Random House profile.

HarperCollins

Owned by News Corp. Its roots go back to 1817, when brothers James and John Harper started printing books in New York. News Corp’s Book Publishing segment, which is HarperCollins, earned $2.29 billion in the year to June 30, 2026, and News Corp says it has more than 120 branded imprints. They include Harper, William Morrow, Mariner Books, Ecco, Harlequin, Thomas Nelson, Zondervan and, for children, HarperTeen and Greenwillow Books. Our HarperCollins profile is coming soon.

Simon & Schuster

Founded in 1924 and owned since October 30, 2023, by KKR, a US investment firm, which bought it from Paramount Global for $1.62 billion. As a private company it no longer publishes its revenue. Its imprints include Simon & Schuster, Scribner, Atria Books, Gallery Books, Pocket Books, Saga Press and, for children, Atheneum and Aladdin. See the Simon & Schuster profile.

Hachette Book Group

The US arm of Hachette Livre, the French publisher owned by Lagardère, which is in turn controlled by Louis Hachette Group. Hachette Livre’s 2025 revenue was €3.0 billion worldwide (reported as Lagardère Publishing). In the US, its publishers include Little, Brown and Company, Grand Central Publishing (with Forever), Orbit, Basic Books and Workman, which Hachette bought in 2021. See the Hachette Book Group profile.

Macmillan

Founded in London in 1843 and owned by Holtzbrinck Publishing Group of Stuttgart, Germany. Holtzbrinck doesn’t report Macmillan’s revenue separately; the whole Holtzbrinck group earned €1.46 billion in 2025, according to the Global 50 ranking. Its imprints include St. Martin’s Press, Tor, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Henry Holt, Flatiron Books and, for children, Feiwel & Friends, First Second and Balzer + Bray, which moved from HarperCollins in 2024. See the Macmillan profile.

Is it a Big 5 imprint?

Type an imprint name to see which of the Big 5 owns it, if any.

Which is the biggest book publisher?

Among book publishers, Penguin Random House is the biggest by both revenue and bestsellers. In 2025 it filled 38% of the slots on Publishers Weekly’s adult hardcover bestseller lists, nearly three times the next house, Simon & Schuster, at 13%. It also had the most trade paperback slots of any Big 5 house, about 19%.

Share of 2025 adult bestseller slots, by house

Hardcover (fiction and nonfiction lists)

• Penguin Random House38%
• Simon & Schuster13%
• Hachette Book Group12%
• Macmillan10%
• HarperCollins9%

Trade paperback

• Penguin Random House19% (194 of 1,040)
• HarperCollins11% (111 of 1,040)
• Hachette Book Group7% (77 of 1,040)
• Simon & Schuster3% (33 of 1,040)
• Macmillan2% (25 of 1,040)

Two things to keep in mind when reading these numbers:

• They count bestsellers, not all sales. Publishers Weekly gives each list 20 slots a week, so each list has 1,040 slots a year. A house with many steady sellers can sell more books than its bestseller share suggests.
• The order changes by format. In trade paperback, the Big 5 together held 42% of the slots, and Sourcebooks, an Illinois publisher that is 75% owned by Penguin Random House but operates independently, held more slots than any single Big 5 house.

The Big 5 also lead children’s picture books: Publishers Weekly found that the Big 5 held 70% of the 2025 picture book bestseller slots, with Penguin Random House alone at about 43%.

Who owns the Big 5 publishers?

Two German family-controlled groups, a French group, a US investment firm and a US media company own the Big 5.

Who owns each of the Big 5

• BertelsmannGermanyPenguin Random HouseKnopf, Viking, Random House
• News CorpUnited StatesHarperCollinsWilliam Morrow, Harlequin, Zondervan
• KKR (investment firm)United StatesSimon & SchusterScribner, Atria, Saga Press
• Louis Hachette Group, via Lagardère and Hachette LivreFranceHachette Book GroupLittle, Brown, Grand Central, Orbit
• Holtzbrinck Publishing GroupGermanyMacmillanSt. Martin's, Tor, FSG

Ownership matters to authors in one practical way: several imprints can belong to one company. Some houses let their imprints bid against each other for the same book, and others don’t, so your agent will know which editors to approach at each house.

From the Big 6 to the Big 5

Until 2013 the industry spoke of the Big 6: Random House, Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette and Macmillan. On July 1, 2013, Penguin and Random House merged into Penguin Random House, and the Big 6 became the Big 5.

The group nearly shrank again. In November 2020 Penguin Random House agreed to buy Simon & Schuster, and on November 2, 2021, the US Department of Justice sued to block the deal. A federal judge blocked it on October 31, 2022, and the deal was called off that November. KKR bought Simon & Schuster instead in 2023. As of October 2026 we found no announced deal that would change the Big 5.

The biggest publishers in the world

The biggest publisher in the world is Bertelsmann, the owner of Penguin Random House, which topped the 2026 Global 50 ranking with 2025 publishing revenue of €5.93 billion. Many of the other largest publishers don’t make books for general readers: they publish legal, scientific and educational material.

Source: Global 50 Publishing Ranking 2026 by Rüdiger Wischenbart, published autumn 2026. “Mainly publishes” is our summary.

So the answer depends on the question. The world’s biggest publisher of any kind is Bertelsmann; the biggest publisher of books for general readers is Penguin Random House; and Simon & Schuster and Macmillan don’t appear in the top 10 because Simon & Schuster no longer publishes its revenue (the ranking lists it without a rank) and Macmillan is counted inside a larger group (Holtzbrinck, at number 12).

Major US publishers beyond the Big 5

Several large US trade publishers sit outside the Big 5. Here are the best known, with who owns them.

Two well-known names are no longer independent: Workman belongs to Hachette Book Group, and Harlequin to HarperCollins. See the Chronicle Books and Kensington Publishing profiles, or browse all 271 publishers in our directory.

Are the biggest publishers the best for your book?

The biggest publishers are the best fit for some books, not all. They pay advances, reach bookstores and libraries across the country, and have large sales and publicity teams. In return they take on few unknown authors, read new work mainly through literary agents, and often take a year or more to publish a book once it’s bought; our guide shows how long it takes to get a book published.

For a first book, smaller houses can be the better place to start. As of October 2026, 190 of the 271 traditional publishers in our directory accept submissions without an agent [recheck on build day]. Choose “No agent needed” and “Open now” in the book publishers for new authors filters, then your genre.

To reach a Big 5 imprint, you need an agent first. Our step-by-step guide shows how to find an agent and a publisher, and nonfiction authors usually sell on a nonfiction book proposal rather than a finished manuscript. If you’re weighing the money, compare how a Big 5 advance compares with self-publishing.

One caution: a few paid publishing services use names that sound like a big house, or say they work with one. A traditional publisher pays you; it never charges you. If a “publisher” asks for money, read about paid services that borrow big names first.

When to get help

Agents and editors at large houses read the opening pages first, so the manuscript has to be ready before you query. A sample edit before you query shows you what an editor would change on your own pages.

Big 5 publishers: questions authors ask

Who are the Big 5 publishers?

The Big 5 publishers are Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group and Macmillan. They are the five largest US trade publishers, as the industry counts them, and the companies behind many of the books you see in bookstores. Each is a group of many imprints, so names such as Knopf, Scribner, Little, Brown and Tor each belong to one of them. Together they took 83 of every 100 hardcover bestseller slots in 2025.

What is the biggest book publisher in the world?

Penguin Random House is the biggest publisher of books for general readers, with 2025 revenue of €4.98 billion. Its owner, Bertelsmann, ranked first among all publishers in the 2026 Global 50 ranking, ahead of RELX and Thomson Reuters, which publish science, law and professional material. Hachette Livre and HarperCollins are the next biggest Western publishers of books for general readers in that ranking.

Is there a Big 4 or a Big 6?

There was a Big 6 until July 1, 2013, when Penguin and Random House merged. A Big 4 nearly followed when Penguin Random House agreed to buy Simon & Schuster, but a federal judge blocked that deal in October 2022, and an investment firm, KKR, bought Simon & Schuster in 2023. As of October 2026, the term is still the Big 5.

Is Scholastic one of the Big 5 publishers?

No. Scholastic is a separate public company and isn’t part of the Big 5, though it is large: it calls itself the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books, and its revenue was $1.58 billion in the year to May 31, 2026. It sells many books through school book fairs and book clubs as well as through stores.

Who owns the Big 5 publishers?

Bertelsmann of Germany owns Penguin Random House; News Corp owns HarperCollins; the investment firm KKR owns Simon & Schuster; Hachette Book Group belongs to France’s Hachette Livre, part of Lagardère, which Louis Hachette Group controls; and Holtzbrinck of Germany owns Macmillan. These owners were current as of October 2026.

Related reading

• How to Get a Book Published
• Self-Publishing vs Traditional Publishing
• Comic Book Publishers Accepting Submissions