Yen Press, LLC

Yen Press was founded in 2006 by Kurt Hassler, a former Borders buyer, and Rich Johnson, a former DC Comics vice president. It began as an imprint of Hachette Book Group before becoming a joint venture. In 2007 the company absorbed ICEkunion, a Korean manhwa publisher, ensuring existing titles continued under the Yen Press label. From 2008 to 2013 it published Yen Plus, a monthly comic anthology that serialized both translated and original content.

The company operates several imprints: Yen On, launched as the first English-language light novel imprint; JY, targeting middle-grade readers; Ize Press, dedicated to Korean manhwa and webtoons; and Yen Audio, an audiobook partnership with Hachette Audio. Yen Press holds World English rights for most of its catalog, making its titles available globally. It has also published original series such as Svetlana Chmakova's Nightschool and a manga adaptation of James Patterson's Maximum Ride.

Revenue estimates vary: Seamless.AI reports $5M–$20M, Growjo estimates $41.7M, and ZoomInfo lists $12.4M. The company is co-owned by Kadokawa Corporation (51%) and Hachette Book Group (49%). Its headquarters is in New York City, with offices at 1290 6th Avenue. Yen Press maintains a strong social media presence across Instagram, X, Facebook, and YouTube. [edit]