ViacomCBS is considering selling Simon & Schuster, publisher of hundreds of Star Trek titles

ViacomCBS currently owns Simon & Schuster, but possibly for not much longer

ViacomCBS is looking to sell off Simon & Schuster, the publishing house behind hundreds of Star Trek titles, including the recent Star Trek: Picard novel by Una McCormack, The Last Best Hope.

A piece from Variety says that while speaking to investors at a Morgan Stanley event yesterday, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said that the company was looking at all their assets, and Simon & Schuster just doesn’t quite fit with their plans. He said, “[Simon & Schuster] is not a core asset. It is not video-based. It does not have significant connection for our broader business.”

Bakish went on to further explain that ViacomCBS has had previous unsolicited offers for the publishing unit, and that they will be looking at their options once “the market stabilizes.” According to the Variety piece, the value of Simon & Schuster could be somewhere between $1 billion and $1.5 billion.

Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy reassured employees yesterday in a memo, saying “[we have] a history of strong and long lasting relationships with our authors, and we will continue to bring important voices to readers around the world, both with our current publishing and our rich backlist of perennially favorite titles.” 

It’s not clear how or even if a sale of Simon & Schuster might impact the publication of future Star Trek novels.