... was bought in 1982 by a group that was headed by Chatto & Windus, and also included The Bodley Head. After this in turn was bought in 1987 by the American publisher Random House, Carmen Callil headed a management buy–out. In 1996, following a downturn in the market, Virago was sold to another American publisher: Little, Brown and Company, which was owned by the American media giant Time Warner (now known as Warner Media). Since 2006 Little, Brown has been part of the UK business of the French publishing group Hachette.
Carmen Callil remained as chairman (sic – according to Wikipedia) of Virago until 1995, when she left the book publishing business. Virago's current Chair is Canadian–born Lennie Goodings, who joined the company as a publicist in 1983.
© Haydn Thompson 2021