house founded 1974 ; 42 years ago 1974 founder christopher dorling peter kindersley country of origin united kingdom headquarters location london imprints bradygames alpha rough guides eyewitness travel official website dk.com dorling kindersley dk is a british multinational publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 62 languages . 1 it is part of penguin random house a consumer publishing company jointly owned by bertelsmann se & co. kgaa and pearson plc. bertelsmann owns 53 % of the company and pearson owns 47 % . established in 1974 dk publishes a range of titles in genres including travel including eyewitness travel guides arts and crafts business history cooking gaming gardening health and fitness natural history parenting science and reference . they also publish books for children toddlers and babies covering such topics as history the human body animals and activities as well as licensed properties such as lego disney and deliso licensor of the toy sophie la girafe . dk has offices in new york melbourne london munich new delhi and toronto . contents 1 history 2 publications 2.1 bradygames 2.2 dk multimedia 2.3 young adult 2.4 other series 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit dorling kindersley was founded as a book packaging company by christopher dorling and peter kindersley in london in 1974 and in 1982 moved into publishing . 2 the first book published under the dk name was a first aid manual for the british voluntary medical services ; this book established the company s distinctive visual style of copiously illustrated text on a glossy white background . dk inc. began publishing in the united states in 1991 . in 1999 it overestimated the market for star wars books and was left with millions of unsold copies resulting in crippling debt . 3 as a direct result dk was taken over the following year by the pearson plc media company and made part of penguin group which also owned the penguin books label . 4 dk has continued to sell star wars books after the takeover . 5 in 2013 bertelsmann and pearson completed a merger to form penguin random house . 6 bertelsmann owns 53 % and pearson 47 % of the company . penguin s trade publishing activity continued to include dk under the newly formed penguin random house . 7 publications edit see also list of publications of dorling kindersley dorling kindersley s london office is at shell mex house 80 strand a 1930s art deco building easily recognizable from the river thames by its distinctive clock . dorling kindersley publishes a range of titles internationally for adults and children . most of the company s books are produced by teams of editors and designers who work with freelance writers and illustrators . some are endorsed by imprimaturs well known and respected organizations such as the british medical association the royal horticultural society and the british red cross . some dk books apparently produced by celebrity authors such as carol vorderman are actually ghostwritten by the company s own writers and editors . bradygames edit bradygames is a publishing company in the united states operating as a dk imprint which specializes in video game strategy guides covering multiple video game platforms . it published their first strategy guide in november 1993 as a division of macmillan computer publishing . in 1998 simon & schuster which acquired macmillan in 1994 divested bradygames as part of its educational division to pearson plc. 8 bradygames has grown to publish roughly 90 100 guides per year . on 1 june 2015 bradygames merged with prima games and future strategy guides made by the publishing company will be published under the prima games label . 9 dk multimedia edit during the 1990s the company published educational videos and a successful range of educational cd roms under the brand dk multimedia . during the late 1990s cd roms were rebranded as dk interactive learning to reflect a changed emphasis toward the educational sector . following dwindling sales and increasing competition from websites the company tried to rebrand the digital part of its business as dk online before opting to sell the uk publishing rights to its cd rom backlist in 2000 to an entirely separate company global software publishing which is part of the avanquest software group . the dk online section of the business then transferred into development work on the anglicised version of the pearson education us knowledgebox product . in december 2010 dk opened an app store selling digital versions of some of its books as well as products from other publishers . 10 11 young adult edit dk commenced publishing books aimed at teens with the release of heads up psychology in may 2014 and further titles following every two to three months . 12 reception of the first title was favorable with publishers weekly writing attention getting headers why do good people do bad things introduces a discussion of the human capacity for evil should hook curious readers while the findings of psychological studies should deepen their understanding of this field . infographics sidebars and photos both create an inviting visual layout and underscore the concepts discussed . 13 while booklist called it an attractive book and a busy but appealing companion for high school psychology textbooks . 14 other series edit other book series published recently include eyewitness travel guides the big ideas rhs encyclopedia doodlepedia the little courses line of world atlases . see also edit children s literature portal cartopedia references edit http www.dk.com uk information about dk http www.dk.com uk information about dk star wars book flop hits dk . www.bbc.co.uk . bbc . 24 january 2000 . retrieved 17 october 2015 . charles goldsmith 3 april 2000 . media giant pearson acquires u.k. publisher dorling kindersley . the wall street journal . dow jones & company inc. retrieved 17 october 2015 . the literator 16 may 2008 cover stories political memoirs ; the environmental bible ; dorling kindersley the independent bertelsmann and pearson complete merger to form penguin random house the random house group 1 july 2013 ceo markus dohle announces penguin random house global leadership team penguin random house group 1 july 2013 http www.nytimes.com 1998 07 04 business pearson revises simon schuster deal.html two big video game strategy guide makers become one . polygon . retrieved 2015 06 02 . james quinn 12 december 2010 . dorling kindersley opens its own app shop . the telegraph . retrieved 17 october 2015 . stuart dredge 8 september 2011 . dorling kindersley talks ipad android and its darwinian apps strategy . the guardian . guardian news and media limited . retrieved 2 august 2016 . sally lodge 29 april 2014 . dk enters the teen market with nonfiction line . www.publishersweekly.com . pwxyz llc . retrieved 17 october 2015 . heads up psychology . www.publishersweekly.com . pwxyz llc . retrieved 17 october 2015 . heads up psychology . www.buffalolib.org . buffalo & eric county public library . retrieved 17 october 2015 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to dorling kindersley . dorling kindersley website dorling kindersley travel dorling kindersley personalized travel guides bradygames official website official youtube channel v t e penguin random house random house usa crown crown broadway harmony hogarth three rivers ten speed watson guptill knopf doubleday knopf doubleday everyman s library us pantheon schocken vintage random house ballantine bantam dell del rey dial modern library spectra villard children s beginner books golden information books on tape fodor s living language the princeton review prima games uk cornerstone hutchinson random house william heinemann ebury bbc books ebury del rey fodor s rider virgin books 90 % transworld bantam doubleday vintage publishing the bodley head chatto & windus harvill secker jonathan cape vintage canada mcclelland & stewart douglas gibson books tundra books new canadian library other companhia das letras 45 % penguin random house grupo editorial alfaguara penguin group uk dorling kindersley hamish hamilton ladybird penguin penguin classics puffin rough guides viking warne us alpha author solutions authorhouse iuniverse trafford xlibris dutton penguin putnam riverhead sentinel tarcher viking berkley publishing group ace berkley new american library jove plume roc children s dial young readers dutton children s firebird g. p. putnam s sons grosset & dunlap philomel price stern sloan puffin warne parents bertelsmann pearson plc authority control worldcat identities viaf 136181449 gnd 5519755 3 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title dorling kindersley & oldid 744105127 categories book publishing companies of the united kingdomtravel guide bookspearson plcpenguin random housepublishing companies established in 1974hidden categories commons category with local link same as on wikidatawikipedia articles with viaf identifierswikipedia articles with gnd identifiers navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages catal e tinadeutsch espa olesperanto fran ais italiano polskiportugu s edit links this page was last modified on 13 october 2016 at 04 33 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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