Google to buy Frommer brand of travel guidebooks

Google Inc will buy the Frommer brand of travel guidebooks from John Wiley & Sons Inc, a publisher of print and electronic products, as part of the internet giant's plan to rake in advertising money from online-travel bookings and local-business information.

Neither Google nor New Jersey-based John Wiley & Sons revealed the financial terms of the deal that was inked on Friday 10 August. However, a Wall Street Journal report citing sources said Google has paid around $25 million for the acquisition.

"Wiley entered into a definitive agreement to sell all of its travel assets, including its interests in the Frommer's brand, to Google," it said in a statement.

In March, John Wiley & Sons announced that it intended to explore opportunities to sell a number of its consumer print and digital publishing assets as they no longer align with the company's long-term business strategy.

Those assets include travel, including the well-known Frommer's brand, culinary, general interest, nautical, pets, crafts, Webster's New World, and CliffsNotes.

Since Arthur Frommer – a former corporal in the US army, published the revolutionary Europe on $5 a Day in 1957, the Frommer's collection of travel products has expanded to include over 300 guidebooks that cover over 4,000 destinations, as well as the popular Frommers.com Web site.