Kodansha USA to Handle Manga with Random House, Del Rey Being Shut Down

Kodansha USA has announced that it will begin handling manga publishing directly with Random House, with the result that the Del Rey imprint will be shut down.  Now former Associate Publisher for Del Rey Dallas Middaugh is moving to Random House Publisher Services (RHPS), Random House’s 3rd party distribution division to provide “strong support”.  Current Del Rey manga titles will gradually be moved under the auspices of Kodansha USA.

The change from licensing via imprint to a more conventional sales and distribution relationship will begin on December 1st of this year, with further information expected at New York Comic Con/New York Anime Fair this weekend at the Jacob Javitz Center in New York City, where Kodansha USA is scheduled to hold a panel discussion.  Below, comments from Kodansha USA CEO Yoshio Irie and Random House Publishing Services Division President Jeff Abraham on the new arrangement.

“We are very excited to extend our relationship with Random House, Both companies see opportunity in the American manga market, and we look forward to working together to further the distribution and exposure of manga in the United States.”
“We are thrilled to have a publisher as distinctive as Kodansha USA Publishing join the Random House Publisher Services portfolio, Kodansha is one of the great worldwide publishing brands for the manga category, and we will do everything to support their efforts with our many booksellers and distributors who love selling manga titles.”

[via Deb Aoki on Twitter and manga.about.com]

Update: The panel discussion originally scheduled has been removed from the listings [via Anime Almanac on Twitter]