Random House assumed its current form through acquisition by Bertelsmann in 1998, which brought together the imprints of the former Random House, Inc. with those of the former Bantam Doubleday Dell.

Random House's publishing groups include the Crown Publishing Group, the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Random House Children's Books, and the Random House Publishing Group.

Together, these groups and their imprints publish fiction and nonfiction, both original and reprints, by some of the foremost and most popular writers of our time. They appear in a full range of formats—including hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market paperback books, as well as audio, electronic, and other forms for the widest possible readership, from adults to young adults and children. 

Random House has long been committed to publishing the best literature by writers both in the United States and abroad. In addition to their commercial successes, books published by Random House have won more major awards than those published by any other company— including the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award.