The process of selling Simon & Schuster has been long and tumultuous, and was waylaid by an earlier antitrust suit.

The private equity firm KKR completed its acquisition of Simon & Schuster, one of the biggest and most prestigious publishing houses in the United States, on Monday, marking a major shift in the publishing industry. Simon & Schuster’s previous owner, Paramount, agreed to sell the publisher to KKR in August for $1.62 billion, making KKR, which has been expanding its media holdings, a major player in the book business. When the deal was announced, executives at Simon & Schuster said they were optimistic about the firm’s plans, which included expanding the publishing house’s business.

“They plan to invest in us and make us even greater than we already are,” Jon Karp, the chief executive of Simon & Schuster, said in a previous interview with The New York Times. “What more could a publishing company want?”

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