Bonnier Books acquires Nextory

Bonnier Books has entered into an agreement to acquire Nextory, one of Europe’s leading book streaming services. The transaction covers Nextory’s operations in Sweden and internationally, and reflects Bonnier Books’ long-term commitment to the book market as well as its belief in the continued development of digital reading and listening.

“We have built Nextory into a significant and profitable business, and I am very proud of what we have achieved. We have had interest from other parties before, but now both the buyer and the timing are right. Bonnier and Nextory share the same view of the value of books and the ambition to increase people’s reading and listening. Together, we are creating a highly competitive combination with strong conditions for successfully continuing to grow in a market where scale is becoming increasingly important,” says Shadi Bitar, CEO and founder of Nextory.

For many years, Nextory has developed its offering in audiobooks and e-books, with operations in ten countries. The transaction creates strong opportunities for continued development in a changing and globally competitive market.

“It is more important than ever to have audiobook services that are fully focused on authors, readers and listeners — particularly at a time characterised by AI-generated content and international players entering our various markets. This acquisition is fully in line with that conviction and gives us even better conditions to continue developing digital book sales together with the publishers and authors with whom we and Nextory collaborate across Europe,” says Håkan Rudels, CEO of Bonnier Books.

Bonnier Books is acquiring all shares in Nextory. The transaction is subject to approval by the Swedish Competition Authority, which means that it will not be formally completed until regulatory approval has been obtained. The acquisition is a cash transaction and the parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

Nextory has retained DNB Carnegie Investment Bank AB as financial advisor and Advokatfirman Vinge KB as legal advisor in connection with the transaction.

About Nextory
Nextory is one of Europe’s largest streaming services for audiobooks and e-books. The company was founded in 2015 by serial entrepreneurs Shadi Bitar and Ninos Malki, with the vision of making books more accessible and encouraging more people to read and listen. Since its launch, Nextory has grown from a Swedish challenger into an international book platform. Today, Nextory offers more than 1.4 million titles and is available in ten European markets.

About Bonnier Books
Bonnier Books brings together all of Bonnier’s book publishing operations, both in Sweden and internationally, as well as the audiobook and e-book service BookBeat. The group upholds a long tradition of book publishing dating back to 1837, when Albert Bonniers Förlag published its first title. Today, Bonnier Books has publishing operations in seven countries and publishes books under more than 100 different publishing houses and imprints. BookBeat was launched in 2015 and now has more than 1.2 million paying users across ten markets and revenue of approximately SEK 1.7 billion.

Contact:

Nextory
Shadi Bitar, CEO & founder – shadi.bitar@nextory.com, press@nextory.com

Bonnier Books
Håkan Rudels, CEO – hakan.rudels@bonnierbooks.com
Jim Zetterlund, COO/CFO – jim.zetterlund@bonnierbooks.com