company cbs corporation founded 1924 ; 92 years ago 1924 founder richard l. simon m. lincoln schuster country of origin united states headquarters location 1230 avenue of the americas rockefeller center new york city new york key people carolyn k. reidy president and chief executive officer simon & schuster inc. 1 christopher lynch president and publisher simon & schuster audio ian chapman chief executive and publisher simon & schuster uk and international jon anderson president and publisher simon & schuster children s publishing division jon karp president and publisher simon & schuster publishing group judith curr president and publisher atria publishing group kevin hanson president simon & schuster canada lou johnson managing director simon & schuster australia louise burke president and publisher gallery publishing group rahul srivastava managing director simon & schuster india susan moldow president and publisher scribner publishing group publication types books imprints many see below official website www.simonandschuster.com simon & schuster inc. a division of cbs corporation is a publisher founded in new york city in 1924 by richard l. simon and m. lincoln max schuster . it is one of the largest english language publishers formerly known as the big 6 now known as the big five . it publishes over 2 000 titles annually under 35 different imprints . contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 expansion 1.3 corporate ownership 1.4 1980s 1.5 1990s 1.6 2000s 1.7 2010s 2 personalities 2.1 editors 2.2 authors 2.2.1 north america 2.2.2 united kingdom 3 logo 4 imprints 4.1 adult publishing 4.2 children s publishing 4.3 audio 4.4 former imprints 5 see also 6 notes 7 references 8 further reading history edit middle 20th century hq broadway early years edit crossword puzzles first appeared in the new york world in 1913 and became a popular feature in newspapers . in 1924 simon s aunt a crossword puzzle devotee asked simon whether there was a book of these puzzles that she could give to a friend . simon discovered that none had been published and with schuster launched a company to exploit the opportunity . 2 at the time simon was a piano salesman and schuster was editor of an automotive trade magazine 3 and together they pooled 8 000 to start the company . 4 the ad proved prophetic and crossword puzzles were indeed the craze of 1924 . 2 simon & schuster continues to be the preeminent u.s. publisher of crossword puzzle books . to attract attention the book came with a pencil attached . 2 this fad publishing would turn into a philosophy for the new publishing house . 3 simon & schuster set out to exploit current fads and trends that published books with commercial appeal . simon called this planned publishing . 3 instead of signing authors with a planned manuscript they came up with their own ideas and then hired writers to carry them out . 3 in the 1930 the publisher moved to what was known as publisher s row at 386 fourth avenue . 3 expansion edit in 1939 with robert fair de graff simon & schuster founded pocket books america s first paperback publisher . in 1942 simon & schuster or essandess as it is called in the initial announcement launched the little golden books series in cooperation with the artists and writers guild . 5 simon & schuster s partner in the venture was the western printing and lithographing company which handled the actual printing . western printing bought out simon & schuster s interest in 1958 . in 1944 marshall field iii owner of the chicago sun newspaper purchased simon & schuster and pocket books . following field s death in 1957 his heirs sold the company back to richard l. simon and m. lincoln schuster while leon shimkin and james m. jacobson acquired pocket books . 6 in 1966 max schuster retired and sold his half of simon & schuster to leon shimkin . 4 7 shimkin then merged simon & schuster with pocket books under the name of simon & schuster . 4 7 corporate ownership edit simon & schuster headquarters at 1230 avenue of the americas rockefeller center new york city in 1976 gulf western headed by charles bluhdorn acquired the company which was grossing about 50 million a year for 11 million most of it in gulf western stock . 4 1980s edit after the death of bluhdorn in 1983 simon & schuster made the decision to diversify . bluhdorn s successor martin davis told the new york times society was undergoing dramatic changes so that there was a greater need for textbooks maps and educational information . we saw the opportunity to diversify into those areas which are more stable and more profitable than trade publishing . 8 in 1984 ceo richard e. snyder acquired esquire corporation buying everything but the magazine for 180 million . 8 prentice hall was brought into the company fold in 1985 for over 700 million and martin davis said that prentice hall became the road map for remodeling the company and a catalyst for change . 4 8 this acquisition was followed by silver burdett in 1986 9 mapmaker gousha in 1987 and charles e. simon in 1988 . 9 part of the acquisition included educational publisher allyn & bacon which according to michael korda became the nucleus of s & s s educational and informational business . 4 three california educational companies were also purchased between 1988 and 1990 quercus fearon education and janus book publishers . 8 in 1990 simon & schuster purchased computer curriculum corporation c.c.c. which specialized in computer based learning systems for schools . in all simon & schuster spent more than 1 billion in acquisitions between 1983 and 1991 . 9 g w would change its name to paramount communications in 1989 . 1990s edit in 1990 the new york times described simon & schuster the largest book publishing in the united states with sales of 1.3 billion the previous year . 8 in 1994 paramount was sold to the original viacom allowing s & s to launch several new imprints in conjunction with channels owned by viacom s mtv networks . simon & schuster s first move under viacom was the acquisition of macmillan usa . from 1995 to 2003 simon & schuster ran a video game and software publisher named simon & schuster interactive . it was distributed by vivendi universal games from 2001 to 2003 when simon & schuster interactive shut down due to lack of interest . in 1998 viacom sold simon & schuster s educational operations including prentice hall and macmillan to pearson plc the global publisher and owner of penguin and financial times . the professional and reference operations were sold to hicks muse tate & furst . 10 2000s edit viacom would split into two companies at the end of 2005 one called cbs corporation which inherited s & s and the other retaining the viacom name . despite the split national amusements retains majority control of both firms . as part of cbs simon & schuster is the primary publisher for books related to various media franchises owned by and or aired on cbs such as how i met your mother star trek and csi . in april 2012 the united states department of justice filed united states v. apple inc. naming apple simon & schuster and four other major publishers as defendants . the suit alleged that they conspired to fix prices for e books and weaken amazon.com s position in the market in violation of antitrust law . 11 2010s edit in 2012 simon & schuster launched a self publishing arm of the company archway publishing . 12 in december 2013 a federal judge approved a settlement of the antitrust claims in which simon & schuster and the other publishers paid into a fund that provided credits to customers who had overpaid for books due to the price fixing . 13 in october 2014 simon & schuster signed a multi year partnership deal with amazon.com in negotiations concerning the price of e books . 14 personalities edit editors edit jack goodman 4 justin kaplan 4 michael korda 4 robert gottlieb 4 peter schwed 4 william cole authors edit north america edit allie brosh andrew smith andrew solomon anna todd annie proulx audrey niffenegger becca fitzpatrick bob dylan bob woodward brad thor cassandra clare cornelius ryan 4 dan brown dave ramsey david mccullough delischa reddic dick cheney donald trump doris kearns goodwin ernest hemingway f. scott fitzgerald frank mccourt gillian anderson gilda radner glenn beck harold robbins hilary duff hillary clinton holly black holly goddard jones hunter s. thompson ian falconer isaac marion james wesley rawles janet evanovich jeannette walls jeff rovin jimmy carter jodi picoult john irving joseph pierce farrell joy of cooking kay thompson ke ha sebert larry mcmurtry laura z. hobson lauren weisberger mark r. levin mary higgins clark nickelodeon nick jr. 1995 2012 philippa gregory r. l. stine rachel renee russell rhonda byrne richard rhodes rinker buck rona jaffe 4 sandra brown shannon messenger shel silverstein siddhartha mukherjee sister souljah emily bestler atria sloan wilson stephen e. ambrose stephen king sylvia nasar taylor branch todd glass thomas wolfe ursula k. le guin vince flynn walter isaacson united kingdom edit jackie collins joan collins mark gatiss richard madeley mark radcliffe logo edit the sower simon & schuster logo c. 1961 according to one source the sower the logo of simon & schuster was inspired by the 1850 jean fran ois millet painting of the same name . 15 according to michael korda the colophon is a small reproduction of the sower by sir john everett millais . 6 imprints edit adult publishing edit atria 37 ink 16 atria espa ol atria unbound beyond words publishing specializes in publishing new age self help and inspiration stories with a spiritual focus . cash money content emily bestler book howard books keywords press a new imprint to publish books by internet entertainers 17 marble arch press strebor books international washington square press gallery books karen hunter publishing mercury ink mtv books north star way books pocket books pocket star scout press threshold editions specializes in publishing politically right of center books including jerome r. corsi s controversial the obama nation 18 scribner touchstone simon & schuster the flagship imprint folger shakespeare library free press simon451 saga press children s publishing edit aladdin initially the children s mass market paperback imprint of atheneum books 19 atheneum initially 1959 a publishing house and adult imprint with a children s division from 1961 a it now publishes children s titles formerly just part of its output . 20 beach lane books little simon margaret k. mcelderry books b paula wiseman books simon & schuster books for young readers simon pulse simon spotlight audio edit pimsleur language programs simon & schuster audio former imprints edit bookthrift inexpensive reprints discontinued earthlight uk science fiction imprint discontinued downtown press women s fiction discontinued fireside books green tiger press half moon books inner sanctum mysteries linden press long shadow books minstrel books children s imprint poseidon press operated 1982 1993 richard gallen books sonnet books summit books wallaby books see also edit the other us big five book publishers hachette holtzbrinck macmillan harpercollins and penguin random house 21 list of largest uk book publishers media of new york city notes edit alfred a. knopf jr. s atheneum the publisher of pulitzer prize winners edward albee curtis johnson and theodore h. white which included a children s division set up in 1961 by jean e. karl . 19 atheneum merged with charles scribner s sons to become the scribner book company in 1978 . this acquisition included the rawson associates imprint . scribner was later acquired by macmillan in 1984 which was in turn purchased by simon & schuster in 1994 . citation needed the children s imprint margaret k. mcelderry books was established and led for many years by editor