Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initially owning 53% of the joint venture, and Pearson initially owning the remaining 47%. [2] Since December 2019, Penguin Random House has been wholly owned by Bertelsmann.[3]