Frommer Reacquires Frommer's

Arthur Frommer, who started his travel guidebook enterprise in 1957 before selling it to Simon & Schuster in 1971, has reacquired rights to the brand from Google and intends to resume publishing the line, the Associated Press (via the San Francisco Chronicle) reported. Although Google purchased the Frommer's brand last year from Wiley, the online search company has reportedly ceased production and publication of printed guidebooks. The terms of the deal between were not disclosed.

"It's a very happy time for me," said Frommer. "We will be publishing the Frommer travel guides in e-book and print formats and will also be operating the travel site Frommers.com."

Google confirmed the brand had been "returned to its founder, but added that the travel content it had acquired from Frommer's and Wiley had been integrated into various Google services such as Google Plus," the AP noted.

Pat Carrier, former owner of the Globe Corner Bookstore, Cambridge, Mass., called the deal "baffling.... I don't get why they (Google) bought Frommer's and then decided to essentially shut down the whole enterprise. Do they really think the content that they acquired from the Frommer's deal has a longer shelf life than yogurt?"

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