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Vivendi buys Houghton Mifflin - Lord of the Rings news - J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

June 01, 2001 at 14:18:44

Vivendi Universal, which bought Havas Interactive, the owner of Sierra On-Line, has announced plans to buy Houghton Mifflin.

Yahoo! Finance is carrying a story detailing the international media giant's plan to buyout the last independent American publishing company, which also happens to be J.R.R. Tolkien's primary American publisher. Houghton Mifflin handles all hardback editions of Tolkien books in the United States.

Sierra On-Line recently announced a series of long-awaited electronic games based on Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings books. The announcement came after a long period of silence from the company, which nearly lost its game-development license in a legal dispute with Tolkien Enterprises.

After the merger has been completed, approximately 48% of Vivendi's overall revenues should come from its American operations. The Tolkien properties will undoubtedly provide a significant contribution to those revenues. Vivendi Universal will move forward to the second-ranked position among world-wide media publishers, and it will have a strong presence in French, English, Spanish, and Portuguese markets.

Houghton Mifflin will publish the controversial Wind Done Gone on June 28. The Alice Randall book, a parody of Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind told from the perspective of black characters, inspired a lawsuit which has helped to further define free speech rights in America.

Another recent acquisition by Vivendi Universal includes http://www.mp3.com/.