Hachette Book Group terminates Weinstein books imprint

PARIS (Reuters) - Hachette Book Group, the U.S. publishing house of French group Lagardere, has terminated the Weinstein Books imprint, the latest entity to distance itself from Harvey Weinstein after allegations of sexual harassment against the movie producer. "Hachette Book Group has terminated the Weinstein Books imprint, effective immediately (Perseus Books has had a co-publishing agreement with The Weinstein Company, under which we published around ten new books a year)," the company said in a statement. The company added that future titles currently under the Weinstein Books imprint will be published by the Hachette Books imprint, and Weinstein Books imprint team will join Hachette Books. "Given recent developments, we think the name change is in the best interest of our authors", a Hachette Book Group spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman also said Weinstein Books imprint had around 10 titles scheduled for publication in 2018 and those will be published under Hachette Books imprint. The termination follows allegations by numerous women that Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them over the past three decades. Weinstein Co could not be immediately reached for comment. (Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain and Sangameswaran S; writing by Michel Rose, editing by David Evans and Toby Chopra)