Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips client, Open Road Integrated Media (OR/M), a digital marketing and multimedia content company that connects authors with readers, acquired Bloodhound Books, a UK publisher of e-books and printed books. Founded in 2014 and based in Cambridge, Bloodhound Books has a backlist of 600 fiction titles and has sold approximately 6 million copies of its books worldwide.
With this acquisition the independent publisher (Bloodhound) will bring a unique network to the OR/M community and independent, successful authors to the partner content program, which will help fuel growth of the Company.
Paul Slavin, CEO of Open Road, says, “The acquisition of Bloodhound Books is demonstrative of the evolution of the publishing industry, and the opportunity for publishers and authors to align more directly with consumer interests and habits. OR/M is uniquely positioned to lead the publishing industry toward a better business model that leans into digital marketing and better leverages data-informed strategies. This acquisition is a huge positive, not only for shaping the future growth of Bloodhound, but also in helping to pave a better, more accessible digital path and discovery process for the publishing market as a whole.”
“The Bloodhound editorial, production, and commissioning teams are to be integrated into Open Road’s existing Company structure to work alongside its finance, distribution and marketing teams,” per the announcement.
“OR/M recognizes the strong value in the Bloodhound brand,” Open Road says, “and as such, it will be retained in all markets while [Bloodhound co-directors] Betsy Reavley and Fred Freeman will stay on board at OR/M to ensure all team and author community’s best interests are met.”
“This is the perfect next step for book publishing entrepreneurs, enabling them to not only reap the financial rewards of what they have built but to also continue to grow their company even faster as part of OR/M while continuing to work with their talented authors,” said Robin Warner, Managing Director at Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips.
On April 28th, Open Road reported a 42-percent increase in revenue for the first quarter of 2021, with 37,000 titles on their “marketing-as-a-service” platform, which OR/M calls the “Open Road Ignition” program.
Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips is an investment bank for clients that operate at the intersection of content, technology and services. This includes enterprises operating within the media, advertising & marketing, education, healthcare, information services and technology sectors. Over 25 years, clients have included Advance Publications/Condé Nast, Deutsche Börse Group, Elsevier, Hachette, JP Morgan Partners, Microsoft, The New York Times, Time Inc., TPG and Wasserstein & Co., among others. The firm is the TMT practice co-head and industry specialist in Oaklins, the world’s most experienced mid-market M&A advisor, with over 850 professionals globally and dedicated industry teams in more than 45 countries. We have closed 1,700 transactions in the past five years.
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