'The company was founded in 1925, when Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer purchased The Modern Library, reprints of classic works of literature, from publisher Horace Liveright. Two years later, in 1927, they decided to broaden their publishing activities, and the Random House colophon made its debut ... In 1960, Random House acquired the distinguished American publishing house of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., and, a year later, Pantheon Books, which had been established in New York by European editors to publish works from abroad. Random House, Inc. was itself acquired in 1965 by the major media corporation, RCA. The publisher's expansion continued with the acquisition in 1973 of Ballantine Books ... In 1980, Random House was acquired by Advance Publications, Inc., a privately held company. There followed a period of growth, including the acquisition of the paperback publisher Fawcett Books in 1982; the creation of Villard Books, a new hardcover imprint, in 1983; the acquisition of Times Books from The New York Times Company in 1984; and Fodor's Travel Guides, acquired in 1986.

In 1988, Random House again grew dramatically with the acquisition of the Crown Publishing Group, whose imprints included Crown; Clarkson Potter, Inc.; Harmony Books; and the Outlet Book Company, a major publisher of low-priced books now known as Random House Value Publishing. Having established Random House of Canada in 1944, Random House ... expanded its international presence in 1987 to the United Kingdom with the acquisition of the British publishing group, Chatto, Virago, Bodley Head & Jonathan Cape, Ltd. The London operation was further expanded with the acquisition of Century Hutchinson Ltd. in 1989, and the trade division of Reed Books in 1997.'

'In 1998 Random House, Inc. was acquired by Bertelsmann, which brought together the imprints of the former Random House, Inc. with those of the former Bantam Doubleday Dell. Random House, Inc.'s publishing groups include, the Bantam Dell Publishing Group, the Crown Publishing Group, the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, the Knopf Publishing Group, the Random House Audio Publishing Group, Random House Children's Books, the Random House Diversified Publishing Group, the Random House Information Group, the Random House Publishing Group, and Random House Ventures ... Random House, Inc. is global, with subsidiaries and affiliated companies in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Through Random House International, the books published by the imprints of Random House, Inc. are sold in virtually every country in the world .' (Adapted from the company website: http://www.randomhouse.com/about/history.html sighted 05/01/2005)