Lane May Sell Penguin Interest

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31318, 14 March 1967, Page 17

Lane May Sell Penguin Interest

(N.Z. Press Ann.— Copyright) 1 LONDON, March 12. 1 Sir Allen Lane, founder . and chairman of Britain’s , giant paperback publish- ' ers, Penguin Books, Ltd., is considering selling his interest in the company, the “Sunday Times” re- j ported today. “There have been rumours ] recently that I have sold out, !

but It is not true,” he said this week. “I'm not even in conversation with anybody, but it should be obvious to anyone that I’ll have to do something one day. “If somebody comes along and makes the right noises, impresses me with his singlemindedness of purpose, then I might sell,” Sir Allen Lane said.

Sir Allen Lane’s 20 per cent holding in the group, which went public in 1961, is worth about £BOO,OOO.

The right person would also need about £5,000,000, progressive leanings and a missionary zeal for art and education, the “Sunday Times” said. . Sir Allen Lane started Penguin Books in 1935 with £lOO in a disused crypt in Euston

road, London, using tombs for storage.

Penguin changed the reading habits of the post-war British generation.

Though it has many recent rivals in Britain, Penguin is still the biggest paperback group in Britain with annual sales of 28 million copies. Pan, its nearest competitor, sells about 21 million a year.