Terms of the sale were not disclosed, the Vancouver Sun reported.

The billionaire's company also owns Ripley Entertainment Inc., based in Orlando, Fla.

Contacted by telephone by the Globe and Mail, Pattison's son and president of Ripley, Jim Pattison Jr., said the acquisition made strategic sense.

"It gives us another iconic global brand that works very well with the Ripley's brand," Pattison said. "The Guinness book is a world authority on records, it is recognized and has no equal. Ripley's in its own right is a global authority on the odd, the unusual and the very strange."

The Guinness Book began publishing in 1951 and has become the world's best-selling copyright book.