Paramount Global agreed to sell book publisher Simon & Schuster to private equity giant KKR for $1.62 billion, the media company said Monday as it reported earnings that topped Wall Street estimates.

KKR’s entry into the book publishing space comes months after Paramount scrapped its initial agreement to sell Simon & Schuster to rival Penguin Random House — which was valued at $2.2 billion — after a federal judge rejected the merger and it raised red flags with the government.

Paramount’s stock was up nearly 4% in after-hours trading. Paramount executives said during Monday’s earnings call that the proceeds of the Simon & Schuster sale would be used in the company’s ongoing effort to pay down debt.

The $200 million termination fee Paramount received from Penguin when that deal was scrapped, along with the money saved when the company cut its dividend, will also go toward lowering leverage, CFO Naveen Chopra said Monday.

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