Barack & Michelle Obama Land $65M Book Deal

Just over a month since he leaving office, former President Barack Obama is making some major moves, inking a $65 million book deal for his memoir.

It’s historic in that it will be the highest figure ever paid for a presidential memoir.

In addition to Obama’s memoir, the deal also includes a book written by former first lady Michelle Obama, via publisher Penguin Random House, who acquired the global rights to both books, according to the Financial Times.

“We are absolutely thrilled to continue our publishing partnership with President and Mrs. Obama,” Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle said in a statement. “With their words and their leadership, they changed the world, and every day, with the books we publish at Penguin Random House, we strive to do the same. Now, we are very much looking forward to working together with President and Mrs. Obama to make each of their books global publishing events of unprecedented scope and significance.”

Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House, previously paid $15 million for the rights to Bill Clinton’s 2004 memoir My Life following his exit from the White House, while George W. Bush made an estimated $10 million for his book Decision Points, which was published by Crown in 2010.

Barack Obama previously penned the million-selling Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope. Michelle released a food and gardening book in 2012, called American Grown.