Time Warner had been making noises about selling its Book Group division for ages now, and a press release just issued today confirms that the Paris-based media group Lagardere will acquire TWBG for $537.5 million -- making Lagardere's book publishing branch the third largest worldwide -- a branch that already includes Hachette Livre, Hodder Headline, Larousse and Dalloz.

General and Managing Partner Arnaud Legardere said: "This acquisition of the Time Warner Book Group represents an ambitious strategic move for our Book Publishing operations, which have proven to be a source of revenue growth and improved profitability....I welcome the people of the illustrious Time Warner Book Group. Their new home is dedicated to the values of the book publishing industry and, with Arnaud Nourry as their leader, they will be in very good hands."

Time Warner Chairman and CEO Dick Parsons added: "This is a terrific transaction that is the right thing to do for both the Time Warner Book Group and our shareholders..[and] also underscores our commitment to a strategy of managing closely related, industry-leading businesses to maximize shareholder returns. We wish our Time Warner Book Group colleagues continued success and the best of luck at their new home."

Though Lagardere wants to position itself further as a major player in three languages - French, Spanish and English - the fact that they now own two major publishing houses in the UK makes one wonder about how further conglomerization is going to affect an industry already dealing head-on with such issues. Wottakar's anyone?

UPDATE: Somebody slipped Gawker the memo from Time chair Ann Moore informing the staff of the sale, in which we learn that (a) "no job losses are anticipated" and (b) the book people aren't planning to leave their cubicles in the Time-Life Building until 2007.