Ku Worldwide
I advises companies on Mergers & Acquisitions and Business Development in Pop Culture and Publishing
Embedded Files
Kuo-Yu Liang 梁國瑜 (he/him)
''Don't be the best. Be the only.'' - Kevin Kelly
''Don't be the best. Be the only.'' - Kevin Kelly
I help companies make money, save money, and save time.
I help companies make money, save money, and save time.
Transaction history.
M&A sell-side representation: Astra Publishing House acquiring DAW Books in association with Book Advisors.
M&A sell-side representation: Mad Cave Studios acquiring Papercutz in association with Book Advisors.
Select Completed Projects.
Smurfs English-language audiobook launch with Blackstone.
K-ComicsBeat launch for Kakao Entertainment.
American Manga Awards launch.
Art of Manga exhibition launch for Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.
Big Bad Wolf Malaysia joint venture with Sharjah Book Authority.
Sandstorm Comics launch for Abu Dhabi.
Setting up distribution for UDON Entertainment, Difference Engine, FairSquare Comics, Devil's Due.
Select Business Development Clients.
Audiobook publisher RBMedia.
Kadokawa World Entertainment.
Italian printer Elcograf.
Beat Technology in Norway.
Anime NYC.
Board Member Experience
Serving on the Book Industry Charitable Foundation board, supporting book & comic store employees.
Serving on the Big Bad Wolf Sharjah board.
Served on advisory boards for Bertelsmann Synergy Group, Lucasfilm Licensing, Shelf Awareness, Reading With Pictures, Geek Girl Con, Comics for Community & Compassion, and ReedPOP Global Strategy Group.
''I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.'' - Wayne Gretsky
What I do
Mergers & Acquisitions
Mergers & Acquisitions
Help clients sell whole companies, shares, divisions, or selected assets.
Strategy
Strategy
Advise companies on strategy & partnerships..
Business Development
Business Development
Business development and growth strategies for companies.
''Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.'' - Robin Sharma
Talking Shop interviews me to discuss helping people in bookstores & comic shops through Binc.
Join me on this wide-ranging interview on the Comic Industry Insiders feed.
For nearly two hours we cover the M&A process, the preparation behind networking, how I use a coach, the work at Binc Foundation to help retailers, and stories spanning 30 years at Random House, Diamond Comics and ReedPOP.
Link to Apple Podcasts.
Link to Spotify.
Link to YouTube.
Current and Past Clients
66 Books | ALO | Anime NYC | Beat Technology | Big Bad Wolf Malaysia | Book Industry Charitable Foundation | Clover Press | Co.Mint | DAW Books | Devil's Due | Difference Engine | Elcograf | Erasmus Fox | Espada Art | Fair Square Comics | Fan Expo | Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (Art of Manga Exhibition) | Forgotten Runes Wizards Cult | Geek Girl Con | Girl Friday | Harper Collins | Hirsch Giovanni | Kakao Entertainment | Kadokawa World Entertainment | KOTRA (The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency | Leftfield Media | Lyte | NBM | Papercutz | People N Story | Post Hill Press | Premier Collectibles | Quarto Book Group | RB Media | Reading With Pictures | Sandstorm Studio | Seven Seas Entertainment | Sharjah Book Authority | Shelf Awareness | Simon & Schuster | The Peyo Company (Smurfs) | The Story Division | Titanic Creation | Udon Entertainment.
''Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it's the courage to continue that count.'' - Serena Williams
Professional experience
ReedPOP, Director of Global Business Development (2018 - 2020). Focus on bringing new business for a portfolio of 50+ events including New York Comic Con, Star Wars Celebration, MCM UK, Indonesia Comic Con, Seoul Comic Con, Comic Con India, Singapore Comic Con, Paris Comic Con, and Book Expo.
Diamond Book Distributors, VP, Sales, Marketing & Business Development (2003 - 2018). Launched new division to expand sales beyond comic shop and into Amazon, bookstores, libraries & mass market. Launched UK & International sales divisions.
Penguin Random House, Associate Publisher, Director of Business Development and Licensing (1990 - 2003). Acquired Star Wars, Halo, and Peanuts licenses. Worked with New Line Cinema on the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Launched client distribution division. Launched the ebook division. Launched video game sales division.
''You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.'' - Mia Hamm
Select conventions and speaking engagements
Attended London Book Fair (March 2025)
Attended Sharjah Publishers Conference (November 2024)
Attended New York Comic Con and Frankfurt Book Fair (October 2024)
Attended Anime NYC (August 2024)
Attended Anime Expo and San Diego Comic Con (July 2024)
Attended American Library Association Annual Conference (June 2024)
Moderator and speaker on panels about webtoon and manga at the Bologna Children's Book Fair (March 2023)
Speaker on a discussion about graphic novels & webcomics organized by the Australian Publishers Association and the Australian Council for the Arts (November, 2022)
Moderator on the manga and webcomics panel at the Sharjah Publishers Conference (October 2022)
Have been interviewed by CNN, Reuters, Comic Con India Geekly, ICV2, Publishers Weekly, and Wall Street Journal.
''An investment said to have an 80% chance of success sounds far more attractive than one with a 20% chance of failure. The mind can't easily recognize that they are the same.'' - Daniel Kahneman
Projects:
Interviewed for SHOPPING FOR SUPERMAN. It is a documentary about the origin story of your friendly neighborhood comic shop. Link here to a short clip. (2025)
Advised Kakao Entertainment to launch K-ComicsBeat (August 2024)
On the committee to launch the American Manga Award with Anime NYC and the Japan Society(June 2024)
Brokered agreement for Blackstone Publishing to publish Smurfs audiobooks in English. (April 2024)
Negotiated the worldwide distribution agreement with Diamond Book & Comic Distributors for Difference Engine. (November, 2023)
Client Difference Engine wins three prizes at the Singapore Book Award, including Book of the Year. (September, 2023)
Advised Sandstorm on launching the Storm the Block event in Abu Dhabi. (August, 2023)
Negotiated agreement with John Marshall Media for Seven Seas Entertainment to launch audiobook imprint Siren. (June 2023)
Advised Sharjah Book Authority on launching the Sharjah Animation Conference. (May 2023)
Brokered an audiobook partnership for client RB Media with J-Novel Club. (November 2022)
Article in BookBrunch about the manga and webtoon panel I moderated at the 2022 Sharjah Publishers Conference (November 2022)
Moderated the panel on the Growing Global Markets for Manga and Webtoon at the 2022 Sharjah Publishers Conference with VIZ, Yen Press, Manga Arabia, and Media Do International. (October 2022)
Sell-side representation in Mad Cave Studios acquiring my client Papercutz. Article in Forbes. (August 2022)
Shelf Awareness article on Astra Publishing House acquiring my client DAW Books (July 2022)
Participated in The Digital Future of Manga panel with Tapas and Media Do International at SaturdayCon (January 2022)
Comment in Project Anime on 2022 anime & manga industry predictions (January 2022)
Comment in Publishers Weekly about the return of New York Comic Con (October 2021)
Comment in Project Anime about the Crunchyroll-Funimation unified anime subscription experience (September 2021)
Interviewed by Publishers Weekly about the return of in-person comic cons (July 2021)
Interviewed by Publisher Weekly podcast about Marvel and Penguin Random House entering the comics business together. (April, 2021)
Co-wrote an Op-Ed in Project Anime about the future of pop culture conventions after Covid. (March, 2021)
Written the 2021 Library Journal annual graphic novel & manga preview. (April, 2021)
Interviewed by journalist Rob Salkowitz about Marvel going to Penguin Random House for comic stores distribution. (March, 2021)
About Ku Worldwide's launch: The Beat, ICV2, Publishers Weekly, Shelf Awareness, Locus. (January, 2021)
''Be a learn it all, not a know it all.'' - Reid Hoffman
My book recommendations:
2024: AN IMMENSE WORLD by Ed Yong | THINKING, FAST AND SLOW by Daniel Kahneman | STEVE JOBS by Walter Isaacson | METABOLICAL by Robert Lustig | AN ANTHROPOLOGIST ON MARS by Oliver Sacks.
2023: SHOE DOG by Phil Knight | GIDEON THE NINTH by Tamsyn Muir | WHY FISH DON'T EXIST by Lulu Miller | DAUGHTER OF THE EMPIRE by Janny Wurts & Raymond Feist | NAMES FOR THE SEA by Sarah Moss.
Four books that inspired & educated me on business: FROM START-UP TO GROWN-UP: GROW YOUR LEADERSHIP TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS by Alisa Cohn | THE HARD THINGS ABOUT HARD THINGS: BUILDING A BUSINESS WHERE THERE ARE NO EASY ANSWERS by Ben Horowitz | BUILT TO SELL: CREATING A BUSINESS THAT CAN THRIVE WITHOUT YOU by John Warrillow | TRILLION DOLLAR COACH: THE LEADERSHIP PLAYBOOK OF SILICON VALLEY'S BILL CAMPBELL by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle.
2022: DEAD WAKE: THE LAST CROSSING OF THE LUSITANIA by Erik Larson | CATHEDRAL OF THE WILD: AN AFRICAN JOURNEY HOME by Boyd Varty | THE HOUSE OF CUCCI: A TRUE STORY OF MURDER, MADNESS, GLAMOUR, AND GREED by Sara Gay Forden | RED CARD: FIFA AND THE FALL OF THE MOST POWERFUL MEN IN SPORTS by Ken Bensinger | THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE & NATURE WRITING series
2021: LAB GIRL by Hope Jahren | EMPIRE OF PAIN: THE SCRET HISTORY OF THE SACKLER DYNASTY by Patrick Radden Keefe | HIDDEN VALLEY ROAD: INSIDE THE MIND OF AN AMERICAN FAMILY by Robert Kolker | THE PREMONITION: A PANDEMIC STORY by Michael Lewis
2020: SAY NOTHING: A TRUE STORY OF MUDER AND MEMORY IN NORTHERN IRELAND by Patrick Redden Keefe | SIX DAYS OF WAR: JUNE 1967 AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST by Michael B. Oren | NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND by Bill Bryson | NO RULES RULES: NETFLIX AND THE CULTURE OF REINVENTION by Reed Hastings
2019: MIDNIGHT IN CHERNOBYL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST NUCLEAR DISASTER by Adam Higginbotham | BAD BLOOD: SECRETS AND LIES IN A SILICON VALLEY STARTUP by John Carryrou | FURIOUSLY HAPPY: A FUNNY BOOK ABOUT HORRIBLE THINGS by Jenny Lawson | ENDURANCE: SHACKLETON'S INCREDIBLE VOYAGE by Alfred Lansing | SAPIENS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND by Yuval Noah Harari
''Simplify and go.'' - Nike vision statement
''Kuo-Yu is perhaps the most connected, respected, and strategic thinker I've ever met in the pop culture space. He knows and appreciates how the markets operate at a global level, and can piece it all together with a perspective that is unrivaled.
''Kuo-Yu is perhaps the most connected, respected, and strategic thinker I've ever met in the pop culture space. He knows and appreciates how the markets operate at a global level, and can piece it all together with a perspective that is unrivaled.
Most importantly though – he truly, genuinely cares about people that work in this industry and wants folks to succeed, and will move mountains to help others.''
Most importantly though – he truly, genuinely cares about people that work in this industry and wants folks to succeed, and will move mountains to help others.''
– Guy ''Yug'' Blomberg, Founder, Game Industry Gathering
''We were lucky to have Kuo-Yu Liang advising us in the early days of The Story Division. He exceeded all of our expectations in delivering new business and helping grow our company. He is a gamechanger. Work with Ku if you can.''
''We were lucky to have Kuo-Yu Liang advising us in the early days of The Story Division. He exceeded all of our expectations in delivering new business and helping grow our company. He is a gamechanger. Work with Ku if you can.''
– Steve Osgoode, President @ The Story Division | Co-Founder
''I always believe six impossible things before breakfast.'' - Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass
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