Zondervan was founded in 1931 in the suburb of Grandville, by brothers P.J. (Pat) and Bernie Zondervan, who were the nephews of publisher William Eerdmans. The company began in the Zondervans' farmhouse, and originally dealt with selling remainders and reprinting public domain works. It eventually developed a list of its own, in 1960 acquiring Halley's Bible Commentary, and going on to publish the Amplified Bible and the NIV Bible translation. The NIV was first published in partnership with the International Bible Society in 1973 and the ...
In the early 1990s, Zondervan became a division of HarperCollins, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, joining the British Christian imprints of Fount and Marshall Pickering. In 2001, Zondervan was given control of these two imprints when HarperCollinsReligious became part of the general trade division. Ownership by News International has led to some controversy, and there was an attempted staff buyout in 1992. Recently, Zondervan faced complaints about the use ...
