HarperCollins, the publishing house owned by the company, already owns Zondervan, the largest US bible publisher and second-largest religious publisher in the country.

According to a Financial Times report, terms of the sale were not released. “But a person familiar with the deal said News Corp paid less than $473m, the price at which Thomas Nelson was taken private by InterMedia Partners in 2006,” FT reported.

According to the report, InterMedia sold a majority stake in Thomas Nelson to New York private equity firm Kohlberg & Co in 2010. At the time, Kohlberg installed Jane Friedman, former chief executive of HarperCollins Worldwide, on the board. Peter J Solomon Company advised Thomas Nelson on the sale to HarperCollins, the report added.

The deal is the largest in the book publishing world for at least five years, and could signal a new round of mergers and acquisitions as the industry faces stagnant sales and fewer bookstores, the report said.