Egmont USA Names Publisher and Announces Random House as Distribution Partner

CHAPPAQUA, N.Y., Nov. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Douglas Pocock, Executive VicePresident of Egmont USA Inc., announced today that Elizabeth Law, former VicePresident and Associate Publisher of Simon and Schuster Books for YoungReaders, has been named Vice President and Publisher of Egmont USA.Mr. Pocock also confirmed that Random House will handle U.S. sales anddistribution.

"We have taken a lot of time to make these two critical appointments,"said Mr. Pocock. "Elizabeth Law comes to us with a wealth of experiencepublishing top authors and handling some of the best-loved properties in theindustry."

While at Simon and Schuster, Ms. Law worked with Andrew Clements; thebestselling Spiderwick series; Thanks and Giving All Year Long by Marlo Thomasand Friends; and Hilary Knight and the estate of Kay Thompson on the Eloiseseries. As former Associate Publisher, Viking Children's Books, she workedwith the estates of Don Freeman and Ludwig Bemelmans, and at Frederick Warneoversaw the launch of the Peter Rabbit Seedlings line and the centenarycelebration of the publication of Peter Rabbit.

In announcing Egmont USA's sales and distribution plan, Mr. Pocock said,"With Random House we have a mighty distribution machine behind us and theexpertise of an accomplished children's sales team."

Egmont USA www.egmont-us.com will be based in New York and will launch itslist of quality young adult and middle grade fiction and picture books in2009. Egmont's books will be sold across all key market sectors with a focuson trade, school and library markets.

Egmont UK Ltd is one of the largest children's book publishers in the UK.Its diverse list includes books for children of all ages and features popularlicensed characters such as Winnie-the-Pooh and Thomas the Tank Engine, aswell as an impressive picture book and award-winning fiction list by renownedauthors and illustrators.

Books and magazines form the core part of Egmont's business in the UK,with sales of approximately 16 million books and 11.5 million magazines.Egmont UK is part of the Egmont Group, one of Scandinavia's leading mediagroups with activities including film, TV production and interactive games.Egmont has activities in 23 countries, and 3,800 employees reaching revenuesof EUR 1.24 billions in 2006.SOURCE Egmont USA Inc.Susan Raab, of Raab Associates Inc., +1-914-241-2117,sraab@raabassociates.com