Toy figures of people are seen in front of the displayed Paramount + logo, in this illustration taken January 20, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/FILE PHOTOAug 7 (Reuters) - Paramount Global (PARA.O) said it would sell Simon & Schuster to private-equity firm KKR & Co (KKR.N) for $1.62 billion in cash, ending a year-long attempt to sell the marquee book publisher. Paramount has been trying to offload Simon & Schuster, the publisher of authors such as Stephen King and Hillary Clinton, since a federal judge blocked its $2.2 billion sale to Penguin Random House last year. "Simon Schuster is a fantastic asset, but ... it's not core," CEO Bob Bakish said on a post-earnings call. Paramount will receive gross proceeds of $2.2 billion from the sale of Simon & Schuster, including a $200 million termination fee paid by Penguin Random House and the cash flow it received during the process.

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Persons: Dado Ruvic, Simon, Schuster, Stephen King, Hillary Clinton, Penguin Random, Simon Schuster, Bob Bakish, Bakish, Simon & Schuster, Naveen Chopra, Samrhitha, Dawn Chmielewski, Anil D'Silva Organizations: REUTERS, Paramount, KKR, Co, Penguin, BET Media Group, BET, Simon &, Penguin Random, Netflix, Disney, Finance, Hollywood, CBS, U.S, Apple, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru, Dawn, Los Angeles