Since August, the Eksmo publishing house has become the owner of 51% in Individual Print LLC

Denis Kotov, co-owner of the Chitay-Gorod-Bukvoed network, sold Eksmo a 51% stake in the capital of the Individuum publishing house, which specializes in non-fiction literature. In August, Eksmo had already bought control of Popcorn Books from him. Market participants believe that Eksmo will fully consolidate both assets in the future.

Kommersant found in the SPARK-Interfax database that since August, the Eksmo publishing house has become the owner of 51% in Individual Print LLC. Another 49% remains with Denis Kotov, co-owner of the Chitai-Gorod-Bukvoed network. The amount of the transaction in Eksmo is not disclosed. The representative of the publishing house added that there are no plans for personnel and structural changes in Individuum. In August, Eksmo also received 51% in Popcorn Books LLC, wrote RBC. In Individuum did not respond to the request “Kommersant”. Denis Kotov did not answer calls.

Individuum was founded in 2015 by Alexei Dokuchaev (recognized as a foreign agent by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation) and Mikhail Vrubel and specializes in non-fiction literature. In 2018, a share in the publishing house was bought out by Bookmate (recognized by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation as a foreign agent), which owned the service of the same name for reading and listening to books by subscription.

After the deal, Bookmate and Individuum founded the Popcorn Books brand, under which they began to develop the direction of youth literature. In 2022, the company, as well as the co-founder of Individuum Alexey Dokuchaev and the CEO of Bookmate in the Russian Federation Andrey Baev (recognized by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation as a foreign agent) sold their shares to Mr. Kotov (see “Kommersant” dated August 16, 2022). Prior to the sale, 51% in Individual Print LLC belonged to Bookmate Limited, another 49% was owned by Alexei Dokuchaev.

Eksmo is part of the Eksmo-AST publishing group, the main beneficiary of which is Oleg Novikov. According to Kommersant’s sources, he continues to actually control the Eksmo-AST group, despite the formal exit from its capital (see “Kommersant” dated June 27, 2022). For the eighth year in a row, Eksmo has been ranked second in the Russian Federation in terms of circulation, second only to Enlightenment, according to the Ministry of Digital Transformation. So, last year the publishing house published 47 thousand titles, which is 17.9% more than in 2021.

According to SPARK-Interfax, the revenue of Individual Print LLC last year amounted to 542 million rubles, and net profit – 142 million rubles. (in 2021 – 189 million rubles and 35 million rubles, respectively). Given the sharp increase in revenue in 2022, the business is worth at least 600-700 million rubles, says Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline-Analytics, that is, the transaction amount could be at least 350-400 million rubles.

Eksmo fully consolidates Popcorn Books and Individuum, believes publisher Fedor Eremeev (Comic Book Factory project): “We see only a piece of the deal, it makes no sense not to take everything.” He believes that the publishing portfolio is unlikely to change much, and interaction will be built on the same model as with Corpus (AST imprint, specializes in foreign literature) – Individuum will retain autonomy through a strong team.

Individuum has a good portfolio, “skillfully” selected by Felix Sandalov (editor-in-chief), notes the former head of the Association of Internet Publishers Vladimir Kharitonov: “These are books that not only really interest readers, but also evoke a wide response from the media that work to promote “. That is why, according to Mr. Kharitonov, the head of the Eksmo-AST publishing group, Oleg Novikov, became interested in the asset.

Julia Yurasova; Konstantin Kurkin, St. Petersburg