A brief history of The Random House Group

1855 - Chatto and Windus founded.

1880 - Hutchinson founded.

1887 - Bodley Head founded.

1890 - William Heinemann founded.

1921 - Jonathan Cape founded.

1982 - Century founded.

1985 - Merger of Century and Hutchinson.

1987 - Random House Inc. acquires CVBC (Chatto, Virago, Bodley Head and Jonathan Cape). 

1989 - Random House Inc. acquires Century Hutchinson Ltd.

1991 - Gail Rebuck appointed as Chair and Chief Executive of Random House UK.

1997 - Random House UK acquires Reed trade divisions (Secker & Warburg, William Heinemann).

1998 - Random House Inc. acquired by Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA. Random House UK merges with Bertelsmann's UK  operation, Transworld Publishers, to create The Random House Group Ltd.  

2002 - The Random House Group acquires Harvill Press.

2006 - The Random House Group acquires BBC Books.

2007 - The Random House Group acquires a majority stake in Virgin Books.

2007 - Preface Publishing imprint founded.

2008 - Random House Struik. South Africa founded.

2008 - The Harvill Press and Secker & Warburg merge to become Harvill Secker.

2008 - Transworld Ireland founded.

2008 - Square Peg founded.

2008 - The Bodley Head imprint launched.

2009 - Windmill Books founded.

2011 - Creation of Random House Children's Screen Entertainment

2012 - Random House Enterprises (RHE) launched

2011 - Creation of Random House Children's Screen Entertainment

2012 - Random House Children's Books changes its name to Random House Children's Publishers

2012 - Vintage Children's Classics launched

2012 - Del Rey (SF and Fantasy) and Doubleday Ireland imprints launched. Black Lace erotica imprint revived

2012 - Hogarth imprint launched