Knopf was founded in 1915 by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf, his wife, on a $5,000 advance from his father, Samuel Knopf. The publishing house was officially incorporated in 1918, with Alfred Knopf as president, Blanche Knopf as vice president, and Samuel Knopf as treasurer.
In 1960 Random House acquired Alfred A. Knopf; however Knopf retains editorial independence. In 1961 Random House acquired Pantheon Books. They placed it in the Knopf Publishing Group, but it was allowed to retain editorial independence from Knopf and Random House.
Random House was acquired by Bertelsmann AG in 1998. In late 2008 and early 2009, the Knopf Publishing Group merged with Doubleday to form the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Random House has been owned since its 2013 merger of Penguin Group by Penguin Random House, a joint venture between Bertelsmann and Pearson PLC.
Many of Knopf's hardcover books are published later as Vintage paperbacks. Vintage Books is a sister imprint of Random House.
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